Man kills colleague because she took 'long breaks' at work. HR had intervened before crime

A horrific workplace shooting in Texas, US, has left a 51-year-old woman dead, with authorities linking the tragedy to the suspect’s obsessive fixation and frustration over her "unauthorised breaks." The accused, Travis Merrill, allegedly ambushed and fatally shot his coworker, Tamhara Collazo, upon her return from lunch at their Lewisville workplace, located about 48km north of Dallas.

Merrill, a colleague of Collazo at Allegiance Trucks, reportedly tracked her every move at work, fixating on the breaks she took and increasingly seething over her perceived avoidance. An affidavit filed by the police, and obtained by local station FOX 4 Dallas, indicates that Merrill followed Collazo to her cubicle, opening fire and shooting her multiple times. She was rushed to a nearby hospital but died of her injuries.

“[Merrill] was obsessed with Collazo and began getting ever increasingly angry by her taking what he considered to be unauthorised long breaks during work hours, as well as not paying any attention to him,” reads the court document. Authorities revealed that Merrill kept records of Collazo’s workday routines, particularly noting the days and duration of her breaks, a fixation that grew into an overwhelming anger.

The growing concern had not gone unnoticed by Collazo, who complained to the company’s human resources department. Following her report, Merrill was required to undergo counselling before he returned to work. However, his frustration only grew as Collazo reportedly distanced herself from him after the HR intervention.