23-year-old drives 15 hours to shoot girlfriend's family

VENUS, Texas — A man spent Christmas Eve on a 15-hour drive to Florida, apparently bent on getting revenge on his former girlfriend's stepmother, authorities said.

By early Christmas morning, Preston Pollard, 23, of Venus and the ex-girlfriend's father, Richard Hutson, 36, of Marion Oaks, Fla., were dead. Hutson's wife, Mary Lou Hutson, 55, was shot and taken to an area hospital in critical condition.

After Pollard shot the Hutsons, he drove off, authorities said. A few hours and about 350 miles later, Pollard shot himself as officers spotted his car heading west on Interstate 10 in Okaloosa County, Fla.

"I know my son. That's not him," said Stephen Pollard, Preston Pollard's father. "He was not a mean person."

The younger Pollard, a recent graduate of Air Force basic training, had bought a plane ticket for the 18-year-old that Stephen Pollard said was still his son's girlfriend. She previously had lived here and she was supposed travel to Texas for the holidays.

Stephen Pollard said his son had lived with the girlfriend's family in Florida for a time.

But as the holidays got closer, the 23-year-old learned that his 18-year-old girlfriend would not be coming. Stephen Pollard thinks his son decided to go get her himself.

Preston Pollard arrived in Marion Oaks, a more than 1,000-mile trip, at 12:17 a.m. ET Thursday.

"They opened the door, and he started shooting," Lauren Lettelier, Marion County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman, told the Ocala (Fla.) Star Banner.

Mary Lou Hutson, whom deputies consider the target, was shot four times. Richard Hutson, who was in a nearby bedroom, was shot at least once.

"Something went wrong," Stephen Pollard said. "Nobody really knows what happened. ... They say he opened the door and started shooting. That doesn't sound very likely to me."

The former girlfriend heard the shots and herded three younger children into a bathroom at the house. They were unharmed.

The Hutson family has asked media not to contact them.

In Texas, Ellis County deputies showed up at Stephen Pollard's door at about 2:30 a.m. CT on Christmas asking where his son was; Venus is about 30 miles southwest of Dallas. The father said he then called his son, who said he was driving about an hour away in Weatherford, Texas, and would be home soon.

When Stephen Pollard called his son again when he didn't return, the father could tell something was wrong. Authorities told him that his son shot himself as the younger Pollard drove 70 mph along I-10 and Florida Highway Patrol officers closed in.

Stephen Pollard is still struggling to understand what happened. He said his son didn't own a gun and that authorities' version of events doesn't add up.

"Why would he drive all that way to kill somebody?" Stephen Pollard asked. "He was driving that way to see his girlfriend."