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Three charged in Catfish King slaying allegedly planned robbery
Police: Friend thought it was a 'joke'

By JESSICA SAVAGE
The Lufkin Daily News

Monday, August 25, 2008

A Hudson man and two Lufkin men charged in a robbery-murder at Catfish King allegedly talked about hitting the restaurant months before the deadly attack, according to an arrest affidavit.

The document released to The Lufkin Daily News through an open records request detailed conversations Lufkin Police detectives had with several people connected to Brian Martin Womack, 19, of Hudson, Robert Dewayne Buschman, 21, and Jarred Q. Berwick, 18, both of Lufkin. All three have been charged with capital murder.

Keith Edward Labrozzi II, 24, died at a local hospital Aug. 17. after being shot multiple times at 10:36 p.m. in the restaurant parking lot at 806 S. Medford Drive. Police said Labrozzi was escorting his girlfriend, manager Katherine Lynn Jeffreys, 23, as she closed the restaurant with the night's deposit in hand.

Womack allegedly surprised the couple armed with a handgun and shot Jeffreys in the ankle. Labrozzi, who was also armed and had a concealed handgun license, fired back and the two engaged in a shootout. Labrozzi and Jeffreys were both taken to a local hospital where he died and she was treated. Police later found Womack in a nearby ditch, an arrest report stated. He had been shot in the abdomen. He was treated at a local hospital, where he remains recovering under police guard.

Hours before the botched robbery, Berwick and Buschman allegedly delivered marijuana to an employee at Catfish King, an arrest affidavit stated. Berwick denied the sale when detectives interviewed him, but said he had delivered drugs there in the past. A manager who answered the phone at Catfish King Monday morning said she could not answer questions and deferred comment to the restaurant's operations manager who was not immediately available for comment.

Just before the robbery, Berwick, Buschman and Womack had been over at a friend's house. A friend told detectives he had seen Womack cleaning a pistol at the house earlier that evening, the report stated. The friend said Womack allegedly told him Berwick, Buschman and he were planning to rob Catfish King.

"He initially took this as a joke and jokingly requested to be allowed to join in," the report stated.

The friend said he later felt the robbery was not a joke and left. The next day he talked to Berwick and Buschman, who said the robbery had not gone as planned and they had left Womack in a ditch, the report stated.

Detectives taped a series of calls between the friend, Buschman and Berwick, which indicated the two had been involved in the robbery, the report stated.

During interviews with detectives, Berwick said he and Buschman had "discussed the ease with which someone could rob Catfish King" and that those conversations happened two to three months ago, the arrest affidavit stated. Berwick said Womack overheard those conversations, and denied his involvement in robbery, the affidavit stated.

Berwick said on the night of the robbery Womack gave no indication he was going to rob the restaurant, the report stated. Buschman denied any involvement with the robbery and told detectives another friend had helped Womack, the report stated.

Buschman, arrested during a traffic stop late Saturday, is being held at Angelina County Jail on a $1 million dollar bond for capital murder, along with bonds for aggravated assault and aggravated robbery. Bond for Berwick, who turned himself in Sunday, had not been set as of Monday morning. He has also been charged with aggravated robbery and aggravated assault.

Angelina County Jail Capt. Louise Marshall said Berwick and Buschman are being housed separately. Buschman is being kept in a medical cell under jail staff supervision after injuring himself Saturday night. Jail staff discovered Buschman repeatedly banging his head into a cell wall after being booked into jail.

"We had him in holding and he starting banging his head," Sheriff Kent Henson said. "He ended up having to get staples."

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