Texas bartender charged for serving shooter before mass killing

A bartender who served a Texas man on the night he killed eight people at his ex-wife's house has been arrested and charged in connection with the incident.

Lindsey Glass served the shooter, Spencer Hight, in September 2017 at a local bar in Plano, Texas, where he appeared to be drunk and brandished weapons, police and state officials said in a report by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

After leaving the bar, Hight stormed into the home of his former wife, who was having a viewing party of a Dallas Cowboys game. He killed her and seven others before dying in a police shootout at the scene. An autopsy of Hight showed his blood-alcohol level was more than four times the legal limit.

Last week, police in Texas arrested Glass on a misdemeanor charge of violating the state's alcoholic beverage code, which says a person can be held liable for selling “an alcoholic beverage to a habitual drunkard or an intoxicated or insane person." She faces up to a year in prison, a fine of $500, or both.

Glass’ attorney, Scott Palmer, said the charge is ludicrous. Glass attempted to make sure Hight was OK and to prevent him from doing anything dangerous, Palmer said in a statement to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.

"It is shameful of the Plano police department to go after the person who was vital in trying to stop the horrific events of that evening," Palmer said.

Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics

Palmer said it was Glass who called 911, and she was supposed to be at the party where some of her friends died. He called the charge "a last-ditch effort by the Plano PD to make someone pay."

Investigators say Glass should have known not to serve Hight, as she had been trained and certified by the state to identify and avoid the sale of alcohol to intoxicated customers, an affidavit said, according to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.

The Local Public House lost its license to sell alcohol in 2018, after officials cited its negligence to report Hight's concerning behavior that night to the police, the local news station reported.