Please pray for Kevin Tam's family

[Diesel42]

This morning at the Way Out West Breakfast, we missed Kevin and SIA and Ironhorse decided to check up on him.
Unfortunately, we have learned that Kevin passed on September 15th due to injuries in a severe traffic accident.
Info on Facebook at Kevin J Tam.
Condolences and prayers.
Nick

[philip964]

My prayers to his family and loved ones.

Joined his Facebook page. Sad to lose someone so young.

[Grayling813]

Stunned. Always enjoyed talking with Kevin at the Arlington breakfast. Rest In Peace brother.

[Grayling813]

Based upon what I've read about Kevin on the Facebook group...he was intelligent, funny and caring...pretty much how what I thought about him.

[Rafe]

Prayers and condolences. Man, it's always tough to lose one of our own.

[Paladin]

Prayers sent

[surprise_i'm_armed]

Since strogg/Kevin James Tam and I only lived about 10 minutes apart (Shady Shores and Oak Point), we carpooled for all the years that the North Texas "gun breakfasts" have been held. If 2nd Saturday/Frisco, we would drive ourselves separately. But for the 3rd Saturday/Arlington and 4th Saturday/Willow Park breakfasts we would round robin who drove each month. Kevin, my S.O., and myself had long talks with him about a variety of topics.

Kevin was blessed with the IT gene. His brother said that Kevin was configuring his own VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) system at a young age, and he made his living as a "network" pro.

Kevin was also blessed with the mechanic gene to make things.
He tinkered with his F250 Super Duty's electronics in order to turn his parking lights, backup lights, and 3rd brake light into fast strobes.
He wanted more strobes though. Did he simply buy a ready made strobe system? No sir, he sourced a variety of parts and built the system he wanted.
He created a range inside his house so that he could shoot his guns indoors.
He self taught himself how to weld.
He built his own MP5.

Maybe these things are easy/peasy for some of you to do, but as someone who didn't get the "mechanic gene", I was impressed.

His EDC consisted of at least one handgun from his extensive collection, a high power flashlight, a knife, and a medical kit with tourniquet.

He was a great shot with his own firearms, and could pick up a friend's gun and also be accurate.

Kevin was a Cali native, but yearning for freedom, he moved to Texas. His choice of Oak Point (Denton County, next to Little Elm) was somewhat of a dart thrown on the map. He exulted in going for rides of hundreds of miles in his large Fords (Excursion and F250 Tremor) in order to soak up as much Texas as he could.

Although all forum members are invited to all 3 of our North Texas breakfasts, the core group of us that attend all 3 every month were strogg/Kevin, Mr. and Mrs. blackhorse1, myself and my S.O.

Kevin's accident occurred on 9/12/22. He passed on 9/15/22 in a Plano hospital. His liver and kidneys were donated to 3 people.
He was on FM423 in Little Elm, Texas, had the right of way, and was rammed in the driver's door by a white Ford Expedition or Excursion.

He was driving his Ford Focus that day. We speculate that maybe if he was in his F250 Super Duty Tremor, diesel, 4x4, with a Ranch Hand front bumper and a lift kit, could he have survived? There's no way to know. He was a good driver and always wore his seatbelt.

Kevin, we will all miss your rye sense of humor and pleasant demeanor.

Rest in peace my friend.

SIA

[C-dub]

I just found his FB page today. It appears to have been set up by his sister after his passing.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/627031408817150

There it is if anyone would like to see it and or join.

I scoured the internet looking for clues and the only thing I've seen is something from the Little Elm police department about and accident at FM423 and El Dorado on September 12th. They didn't have anything more specific, so not sure if this is the one or not. I'm thinking about calling them or going up there to request information about the accident in an attempt to find out what happened.

I haven't told H-dub, my daughter about this yet. She just lost one of her softball teammates a few months ago.

[surprise_i'm_armed]

Today, I made a records request from Little Elm PD. It may take up to 10 days to be produced. So, C-dub, you needn't bother to duplicate my current efforts, but thank you.

I went by Kevin's house today. His neighbors are keeping an eye on his house. Deliveries of cat food for his cats, and maybe other items, were coming to his house for a while. The neighbors told the delivery people to simply send back the items.

Kevin's collection of firearms are unlikely to go to his brother in Cali since none of them are likely to be on the approved Cali firearms list.
He also had at least one NFA item (suppressor). Just guessing here, but the firearms probably need to be sold to some FFL that can take them all.

SIA

[C-dub]

Today, I made a records request from Little Elm PD. It may take up to 10 days to be produced. So, C-dub, you needn't bother to duplicate my current efforts, but thank you.

I went by Kevin's house today. His neighbors are keeping an eye on his house. Deliveries of cat food for his cats, and maybe other items, were coming to his house for a while. The neighbors told the delivery people to simply send back the items.

Kevin's collection of firearms are unlikely to go to his brother in Cali since none of them are likely to be on the approved Cali firearms list.
He also had at least one NFA item (suppressor). Just guessing here, but the firearms probably need to be sold to some FFL that can take them all.

SIA

Way to go SIA.

I had not made it up there yet and was planning on going tomorrow when I'll be in the area anyway.

I wonder if his sister is also in California. Have you been in contact with anyone either of them? Being so young, I doubt it, but I hope Kevin had a will so all of his things don't go to the state and his family will get them if they want.

[Beiruty]

I am sorry to hear this sad news.
If there is an auction for his firearms, as an FFL dealer I can attand the auction if allowed.
BTW,In Texas, If there is no will, the next of the kin would not be the estate of the deceased?

[C-dub]

I am sorry to hear this sad news.
If there is an auction for his firearms, as an FFL dealer I can attand the auction if allowed.
BTW,In Texas, If there is no will, the next of the kin would not be the estate of the deceased?

I think in Texas, without a will or a spouse, everything goes to the state except for any lien holder. Then, whatever item there is still a lien on goes back to whoever holds the lien. Something like that. Maybe

[surprise_i'm_armed]

His parents live in Saratoga, Cali. His brother lives nearby in Cali.
His sister lives in Arizona, town unknown.

His girlfriend has been in constant contact with the family. She has flown out to Cali to meet with them. I am assuming that the dispersal of Kevin's house, vehicles, firearms, and other personal possessions is in process.

I got the police report yesterday from Little Elm PD. The accident happened at 814 AM on Monday, 9/12/22, at the intersection of Eldorado Parkway and FM423. At this point of FM423, Frisco is one side of the street, Little Elm is the other. 815 AM - Little Elm PD was dispatched. 821 AM - LEPD arrived on scene.

The man who caused Kevin's death was a 44 year old Hispanic male from McKinney, TX. He was driving a white Ford Expedition, failed to yield while making a left turn, and caused the fatal collision with Kevin's Ford Focus. Kevin used to own a white Ford Excursion.

I measured the distance from the accident scene to Kevin's house.........7.8 miles.
I measured the distance from Kevin's house to my house.....................7.8 miles, but in a different vector. Kind of creepy.

On somewhat of a positive note, 5 good citizens who witnessed the accident, made themselves known to LEPD, and are listed on the police report.
Thank you for not just driving on your way.

My next project regarding Kevin's death is to determine the court date, since I assume the man who killed Kevin has been charged with vehicular homicide. I got onto the Denton County Court website, but the search function was not good, and I could not find out anything. I will work on this next week. blackhorse1 also wants to attend the trial.

SIA

[C-dub]

I wonder if any of our lawyer friends could help us out with docket information?

BTW, the next breakfast I will be able to attend will be Dec. 10, in Frisco.

[Don T]

I am sorry to hear this sad news.
If there is an auction for his firearms, as an FFL dealer I can attand the auction if allowed.
BTW,In Texas, If there is no will, the next of the kin would not be the estate of the deceased?

I think in Texas, without a will or a spouse, everything goes to the state except for any lien holder. Then, whatever item there is still a lien on goes back to whoever holds the lien. Something like that. Maybe

It's actually a commonly-held misconception that "everything goes to the state." A more accurate way to state it is that "without a Will, the state determines where everything goes." The state determines that, though, through its inheritance laws. Here is a brief overview of what happens when an unmarried person residing in Texas dies without a Will:

Did the person have any children or further descendants? If so, everything goes to the children in equal shares. The children of a deceased child would receive that child's share.

If no descendants, were either of the person's parents living? If so, one-half goes to the father and one-half goes to the mother. If a parent is not living, that deceased parent's one-half goes to that parent's children.

If neither of the parents is living, then everything goes to the person's brothers and sisters (generally equally, but half-siblings receive less than full siblings). The children of a deceased sibling (that is, nieces and nephews) receive the share which would have gone to the deceased sibling.

if there is no surviving sibling, then generally one-half goes to paternal grandparents and one-half to maternal grandparents. If a grandparent is not living, that grandparent's share goes to his/her children or further descendants (that is, the deceased person's aunts and uncles, then cousins, second cousins, etc.).

In unusual situations, you might have to go further up the family tree to great-grandparents and down through their descendants.

Only if no relatives of the deceased person can be identified would the deceased person's assets ever "go to the state." I've only encountered this situation once, and that was many years ago.