NO. AP-75,363 IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TEXAS ...

The robbery murders Reid would later commit in Tennessee were strikingly similar
to the Fairlanes robbery murders. As described by a Tennessee detective, “Reid displayed
a distinctive modus operandi in his crimes in Tennessee – he would gain entry to an
establish[ment] at a time when the establishment was closed but employees were still
present, by causing employees to let him in. [] Reid would steal cash and coins, often
having an employee access the register or safe. [] Reid would then kill or attempt to kill all
employees present at the time of the robbery, with a preference for forcing the employees
to lie on the floor, face down, and then shooting them execution style, with a gun shot to
the head.” (9 CR 2561).
Reid and his long-time friend, Stewart Cook, also committed a series of robberies
in Houston. During one of them, in 1982, Reid fired his pistol and Cook asked him why.
As Cook has explained in an affidavit, “Paul [Reid] brushed it off, telling [Cook] he’d
done much worse during a robbery he had committed before [they had] started working
together. Specifically, [Reid] said that he once had a ‘problem’ while he was robbing a
bowling alley out on Route 290, and he had shot ‘four people.’” (6 CR 1485).
6