Entrance sign at Texas A&M University. (Wikimedia Commons)

The man who killed two people near Texas A&M University Monday had cut off contact with his family in the months leading up to the shooting, even though his mother was seriously ill, according to Reporter News.

The family of Thomas Alton Caffall III has said that he suffered from an unspecified mental illness that brought him to commit violence after a law enforcement officer tried to serve him a court summons for being two months behind on rent. 

"It breaks our hearts his illness led to this," his family said in a statement through an attorney.

The family's attorney had known Caffall since he was four years old, and said that he "wasn't the same kid that he used to be, let's just say that.  He was sweet, very bright, good sense of humor, just a good kid, a sweet kid."

Moore said that he recognized the Caffall he used to know in how, just before dying, the shooter offered an apology to the officer he had just killed.

Caffall killed the officer and a bystander, and he died at the hospital after a shootout with police.

Read more of Neon Tommy's coverage of the Texas A&M shooting here.

Reach Executive Producer Michael Juliani here; follow him on Twitter here.