Cousin of Texas governor, 74, killed by deputies

Perry said Thursday that the death was tragic but stressed he hardly knew his cousin, 74-year-old Larry Don Wheeler, even though he was listed as a member of Perry's 2006 re-election steering committee.

"I'm not sure I would pick him out of a lineup," the governor said of Wheeler, who he said was a distant cousin on his grandmother's side.

Wheeler was sitting on his backyard deck after dinner Saturday night at his home at a Montague County country club when two sheriff's deputies showed up in response to a disturbance call, said David Gossom, an attorney for the family.

"We received a call ... of a man with a shotgun," Montague County Sheriff Paul Cunningham said. "Several citizens in the area were concerned."

(...) What happened next is unclear and under investigation. After an exchange of gunfire, Wheeler was dead and a deputy was shot in the hand. Gossom said bullet holes riddled the back seat cushion of the chair where Wheeler was sitting and the floor of his deck.

An autopsy is pending, said Montague County District Attorney Jack McGaughey. The Texas Rangers are investigating at Cunningham's request, as is McGaughey.