Scot '˜shot security guard at US party while high on drink and drugs'

The shooting took place outside the Sigma Chi fraternity house on Nueces Street in Austin, TX. Picture: Google MapsThe shooting took place outside the Sigma Chi fraternity house on Nueces Street in Austin, TX. Picture: Google Maps
The shooting took place outside the Sigma Chi fraternity house on Nueces Street in Austin, TX. Picture: Google Maps
A Scottish teenager shot a security guard at a party in the US while high on drink and drugs.

Daniel Magee opened fire after a fracas at a property close to the University of Texas in the city of Austin.

The 18-year-old, from the Dyce area of Aberdeen, fled the scene after the shooting but was later caught by police and is in jail on $50,000 bail.

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A search of his car and home uncovered an AK-47 assault rifle, but it is understood the weapon was not used to attack security guard Edward Earls.

Mr Earls was shot in the foot and had to have re-constructive surgery.

Magee was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which is classed as a first-degree felony.

The former Dyce Primary and Dyce Academy pupil is not a student at the University of Texas, but had turned up at a fraternity party at an off-campus house.

An arrest warrant affidavit revealed that he arrived at the party while ‘heavily intoxicated’ and on the anti-anxiety drug Xanax.

Fraternity members asked the security guard to remove him after he started causing trouble, and the affidavit states Magee threatened to ‘return to the party with an AK-47 rifle to shoot up the place’.

He returned to the fraternity house with two roommates just under an hour later and shot Mr Earls in the foot.

Police were called to the scene and went to Magee’s nearby home, where they found an AK-47 and a .40 calibre weapon.

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His two roommates were also quizzed but will not face charges.

Police said Magee - who is currently in Travis County Jail - did not have a licence to carry a weapon, and neither of the two guns found at his home were used in the shooting in the early hours of Sunday.

Police also confirmed Magee had expressed an interest in joining the Sigma Chi Fraternity - a student organisation which has groups all over the USA and Canada.

Like all fraternities, it has its own colours, insignia, and rituals.

And, according to its constitution, ‘the purpose of this fraternity shall be to cultivate and maintain the high ideals of friendship, justice, and learning upon which Sigma Chi was founded.’

Houston-born Magee moved between Texas and Aberdeen a number of times with his family due to his father’s job in the oil industry.

It is understood the teenager attended Dyce Primary School until 2007, and in 2013 he studied at Dyce Academy.

A former neighbour of Magee said she was shocked the young boy she used to see playing outside his house in Dyce was involved in the shooting.

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She said: “I knew him when he was about seven years old, I’m absolutely stunned. I have no idea what could have happened, he was just a normal, happy kid.”

It is understood Magee’s mother and father Ian and Debbie are now divorced and live separately in Houston.

His family declined to comment, but said they were aware of the incident.

A Sigma Chi Fraternity spokesman said: “We are deeply saddened by the incident that occurred at the chapter house at the University of Texas, Austin.

“Chapter members acted swiftly to assist the police with their investigation, which has since resulted in the arrest of all of those responsible for this incident.”

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