A judge has sentenced a man to federal prison who approached a Dallas church with a rifle in 2024 and had previously killed his roommate in 2022.
Russell Alan Ragsdale, 25, was sentenced to 5.5 years in federal prison – and 3 years of supervised release – on July 17 for “possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance,” after he reportedly shot and killed his roommate in Seagoville, according to a release from the Department of Justice.
Prosecutors had previously dismissed a murder charge against Ragsdale for the killing, according to court documents obtained by The Dallas Express. He claimed he acted in self-defense.
But federal officials brought the most recent charges for the killing after Ragsdale approached St. Augustine Catholic Church in Dallas with a rifle, apparently trying to commit a shooting.
A Potential Mass Shooting
Ragsdale targeted St. Augustine Catholic Church in southeast Dallas on November 2, 2024. According to a Department of Justice release, he entered the church – alongside 100 parishioners – at 5:05 p.m. that evening.
During the service, according to Fox 4, Ragsdale “embraced” the priest, kissed him on both cheeks, and gave him a note: “May peace be with you.”
After the service, he went to his car, where he donned a “black and white poncho.” He allegedly “retrieved a rifle from his trunk,” according to the release, and closed the gates to the church parking lot.
Ragsdale “attempted to re-enter the church with his rifle” at 5:35 p.m., but the worshipers had locked him out.
A witness at the scene thought Ragsdale may have been trying to commit a shooting, according to Fox 4. He was charged with “misdemeanor disorderly conduct.”
The Roommate Killing
While investigating the apparent attempt on the church, agents learned Ragsdale was arrested in February 2022 for “felony murder” of his roommate in Seagoville – though “the murder case was later dismissed.”
Ragsdale called 911 early the morning of February 3, 2022, to report the shooting, The Dallas Morning News reported.
He claimed his roommate had attacked him, so he “shot him many times” in self-defense. Officers found three guns – including a Glock 10mm and an AR-15, plus “hallucinogenic mushrooms” at the scene.
At the time, a Dallas County jury indicted Ragsdale for murder, claiming he “intentionally and knowingly” killed roommate Timothy Patrick Morris, according to court documents obtained by The Dallas Express. Morris was 19 at the time, and enjoyed things like video games, “Magic Cards,” concerts, animals, John Wayne, and Johnny Cash.
But a Dallas County prosecutor later “dismissed” the case, according to a February 20, 2024, court document obtained by The Dallas Express.
Katherine Miller, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, declined to comment and suggested The Dallas Express contact local authorities.
The Dallas Express asked the Dallas County District Attorney’s office why the murder case was dismissed, but did not hear back in time for publication.
More recently, after the apparent attempted church shooting in November, federal officials arrested Ragsdale on November 22, 2024, after reviewing the killing of his roommate. They charged him with “possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance.”
Investigators analyzed his phone, showing a “history of drug use” back to November 2021, and evidence he bought and used shrooms the day before the killing. He pled guilty on April 29, 2025, admitting he was “legally intoxicated from consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms when he possessed the 10mm Glock.”
When Senior U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn sentenced Ragsdale last week, she noted he “did not present sufficient evidence to support his self-defense claim,” according to the DOJ. She also said Morris’ death was “the defendant’s own making.”