A disturbance involving firearms on a rural stretch of FM 315 in Anderson County left a 57-year-old man dead and a 27-year-old Palestine man behind bars on a murder charge. Eunious Nixon Fulford was shot during the confrontation Saturday and later died after being rushed to a hospital in Athens, Texas, according to authorities.
The Anderson County Sheriff's Office received a report of the disturbance in the 20,600 block of FM 315, a rural corridor in northern Anderson County near the Henderson County line, as reported by KLTV. Deputies and EMS personnel responded to the scene, where deputies found Kerrion Darrius Miller. Fulford was treated for a gunshot wound and taken to a hospital in Athens, according to the sheriff's office.
Fulford ultimately died from that gunshot wound after being transported to what is now known as UT Health Athens, according to a report from CBS19. The facility sits roughly 20 miles north of Palestine in neighboring Henderson County, and it operates a 24-hour emergency department designated as a Level IV trauma center, according to UT Health East Texas. The station's report explains why EMS crossed county lines to reach the closest acute care option for the rural stretch of FM 315 where the shooting happened.
Where the Shooting Took Place
The 20,600 block of FM 315 sits in a sparsely populated section of northern Anderson County near the community of Larue, close to the Henderson County border, according to the National Gun Violence Memorial. FM 315 runs north-south, linking the two counties. Anderson County itself spans 1,062 square miles and has an estimated population of roughly 57,800 residents, with Palestine serving as the county seat, per Texas Public Records.
Miller was arrested and booked into the Anderson County Jail on the murder charge, according to the sheriff's office. The Anderson County Sheriff's Office, led by Sheriff W.R. “Rudy” Flores, holds primary jurisdiction over the county's unincorporated areas, including the FM 315 corridor, per Texas Public Records.
What Miller Could Face Under Texas Law
Murder is classified as a first-degree felony under Texas Penal Code Section 19.02, carrying a potential sentence ranging from 5 to 99 years or life in prison, along with a fine of up to $10,000 upon conviction, according to Saputo Toufexis. Texas does not divide murder into first- and second-degree categories at the charging stage. Bail for a murder charge in Texas is set individually by a judge rather than through a standard bond schedule, with courts weighing the nature of the offense, community ties, criminal history, and public safety risk, according to Deandra Grant Law.
Texas law also allows for a punishment-phase mitigation defense. If a defendant proves by a preponderance of the evidence that a killing occurred under the immediate influence of sudden passion arising from adequate cause, the offense can be reduced to a second-degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years, per L&L Law Group. That provision applies only at sentencing and does not change the underlying murder charge Miller currently faces.
A String of Violent Incidents in the Area
The shooting adds to a run of violent incidents reported around Anderson County in recent weeks. On September 5, Hoodline reported that a Palestine restaurant cook was accused of slashing a teen co-worker with a knife at a Cotton Patch Cafe before telling him to finish his shift. Data from Police Scorecard covering 2013 through 2025 shows that roughly 79% of arrests made by the Anderson County Sheriff's Department involved low-level, non-violent offenses, out of more than 7,000 total arrests tracked during that period.
Investigators have not released the underlying cause of the disturbance or detailed the relationship between Miller and Fulford. It also remains unclear whether a bond has been set for Miller by an Anderson County magistrate.
