Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced Thursday his office was adding $100,000 into the reward pool for the investigation into the deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife Cynthia and Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse.
The additional funds bring the reward total to $200,000.
During a news conference with officials from Kaufman County, the FBI and the Texas Department of Public Safety, Perry addressed reports that gangs, cartels or the Aryan Brotherhood may be connected to the killings.
"It is very premature to make any statements about who may or may not have been involved with this. There was a report by the DPS that said the greatest threat to Texans' safety were the drug cartels. Obviously that's part of the investigation," Perry said. "We know we have a porous border. We know that the drug cartels, the gangs, both transnational and otherwise, in some cases, are operating together. So, all of that is obviously open for interpretation and investigation. We will leave no stone unturned. Any organization that is operating in the state of Texas outside the bounds of our laws is going to be put on notice that we're going to hunt you down, we're going to punish you and do our best to remove that type of threat to the safety of the citizens of the state of Texas."
Perry deferred answering questions about the murder investigations, or connections between the investigations, to law enforcement working on the cases, though he did commend them for their work so far.
"We're not going to allow the lawlessness of a few to cause us a moments hesitation in our efforts to make a safer and more secure Texas," Perry said.
Perry, as well as dignitaries from Washington D.C. and law enforcement officers from as far away as Great Britain were attending a public memorial for McLelland and his wife Cynthia later on Thursday.
Perry was next expected to speak at the 1 p.m. memorial for the McLellands where a capacity crowd of more than 3,000 people were expected at the First Baptist Church of Sunnyvale in Mesquite.
“The security here will be very tight. For the elected officials, for Gov. Perry, and for the families. We have federal marshals that will be here for dignitaries coming out of Washington,” said Chris Heisler, the president of The Honor Network. “Security will be paramount. The building is very secure, we've done sweeps throughout the night. And we'll continue to do so.”
Officials said there would be armed officers patrolling inside and outside the church during the memorial.
A funeral for the McLellands will be 10 a.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Wortham. Burial will be at Wortham Cemetery. Wortham, where McLelland grew up, is 75 miles south of Dallas.
McLellands Remembered
A McLelland family representitive gave the following statement to NBC's Today show:
"On behalf of the McLelland family, we would like to thank everyone for all of the thoughts and prayers for our family during this tragic time. We would greatly appreciate the continued support for our family while we grieve the loss of these two special people. We sincerely appreciate the efforts of each and every law enforcement agency that is so diligently working on this case. We respectfully request that all news and media outlets respect our privacy as we grieve our loss."
Honor Guard organizer Chris Heisler said he regularly speaks with the family.
"They're heartbroken, and they're angry. This is something that happened here in North Texas. It's impacted them, and also citizens and communities around the country," Heisler said.
NBC 5's Jeff Smith and Scott Gordon contributed to this report.
Photo Credit: NBC 5 News