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Report: Suspect in College Station homicide case told people she was going to kill, released from jail hours before fatal shooting

The woman had been arrested and let out of jail just hours before the fatal shooting, according to court documents.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A College Station woman allegedly told people close to her she was going to kill someone hours before her ex-boyfriend was shot to death in his car in a parking lot.

Khanh Kim Phan, 43, is charged at this time with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The victim, Jeff Blankley, 51, just hours before the shooting, had filed a complaint about Phan with the College Station Police Department, according to a probable cause statement. Investigators had just started looking into a the stalking allegations when they learned about the shooting and car crash.

According to the statement, witnesses reported hearing several gunshots in the parking lot of the old Altitude Trampoline Park on the 2200 block of Longmire Drive.  

It happened just after 11 p.m., just as the Walmart next door was closing and customers were leaving the store. A white Chevy Suburban then crashed into the side of the building and the witnesses ran over to help, the statement reads.

Witnesses allegedly told police they had found Phan outside on the ground on the passenger side. They said she was talking to someone on the phone in another language. The witnesses said they pulled Phan to safety. When officers got to the scene, they said they found Blankley in the driver's seat of the Chevy Suburban. They said he had been shot multiple times and had already died.

Phan was taken to the hospital to get treatment for her injuries, according to the College Station Police Department. She was arrested Wednesday after being released from the hospital.

Investigators said they took a look at Walmart surveillance footage that showed Blankley, who was behind the wheel of the Suburban, meet up with someone near a white SUV in the parking lot. Moments later, the Suburban is crashing into the building.

Authorities were able to contact the person Phan was talking to on the phone after the crash. A friend of Blankley's then came to the scene in the parking lot to talk with authorities. The friend said Blankley and Phan had dated over the past year but had recently broken up. The friend said Phan had been stalking Blankley and was following him around and had even come to his workplace. The friend said Blankley had even found a recording device in his vehicle.

According to the probable cause statement, police issued a criminal trespass warning to Phan after she showed up to Blankley's apartment complex on August 10. On August 15, just after midnight, court documents show Blankley called the police and said Phan was at his apartment complex. Police responded and Phan was arrested for violating the criminal trespass order, however, she was issued a $2,000 bond and was released from jail on that same day.

Blankley's friend allegedly told officers at the scene that Phan had been after Blankley all day and had even sent text messages of Blankley and people he had been with that day. That's when Blankley went to police and they started the stalking investigation.

Blankley was shot and killed hours later.

When investigators showed up to Phan's home, they said they also found evidence there tying Phan to the homicide scene. Phan had also allegedly told people close to her she wasn't going to be "around anymore" and had made arrangements to sell and give away her property.

Phan is currently in the Brazos County Jail on $250,000 bond.

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