State Bar President: Shooting 'beyond my ability to comprehend' - WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

The assistant district attorney in Kaufman County killed in a Thursday morning shooting is being remembered as an excellent prosecutor and an even better gentleman.

Mark Hasse, was gunned down near the Kaufman County Courthouse Thursday morning.

Hasse had spent decades prosecuting cases in Dallas and Kaufman Counties. The Rockwall-native graduated from Texas A&M University with a History degree in 1977 and went to law school at Southern Methodist University. He received his law degree in 1981 and was licensed by the State Bar of Texas in 1982.

State Bar President F.R. "Buck" Files, Jr., of Tyler, said the fatal shooting is "such a tragedy and beyond my ability to comprehend."

"I think every prosecutor, even those who do criminal defense, has been threatened or been concerned on occasion, but this is a unique event," Files said. "I don't remember anything like this since Chief Judge John Wood of the Western District of Texas was assassinated many years ago."

Files said he had only briefly met Hasse, but his reputation was well known.

"I certainly knew who he was, and his reputation was wonderful," He said. "I've heard he was an excellent lawyer an excellent prosecutor – and even more of a gentleman."

"On behalf of the lawyers of Texas, we extend our sympathies to his family and join with them in hoping that his killer is apprehended quickly and brought to justice," Files said.