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From the Dallas Morning News:

2 men found dead outside Garland recording studio Zion Gate

09:54 PM CDT on Thursday, June 19, 2008
By RACHEL SLADE / The Dallas Morning News
sslade@dallasnews.com
 
Two best friends were shot to death early Thursday outside their Christian music recording studio in downtown Garland, police say.
 

Matthew Butler

Matthew Butler, 28, owner of Zion Gate Records, and Stephen Swan, 26, the studio sound engineer, appeared to have been shot multiple times.
 
The studio was left undisturbed, Garland police spokesman Joe Harn said. Missing from the scene however, was Mr. Swan's car – a tan 1995 Ford Crown Victoria with Texas license plate number S05VCD.
 
"The thing that we know right now is that they killed two people and stole one of their cars," Officer Harn said. "Now, was that the reason behind it? That may be, but we can't say that right now."
 
Officer Harn said Thursday evening that law-enforcement officers had apprehended three people in Mr. Swan’s car in East Texas. The names of the suspects were not released. Details about the arrests were sketchy Thursday evening.
 
Mr. Butler's wife said her husband met Mr. Swan at the studio Wednesday evening to finish a project. Mr. Swan called her after midnight to say he was driving her husband home. About two hours later, police knocked on her door with news of their deaths.
 
"I was just kind of in shock, hoping it was not him, hoping it was someone else," Jamie Butler, 22, said.
 
A bicyclist discovered the bodies in the 800 block of State Street shortly after 1 a.m., then pedaled to a nearby fire station to alert authorities.
 
Mr. Swan worked full-time as senior security administrator at Ellipse Communications Inc. in Addison but helped Mr. Butler as studio engineer. Together they recorded, mixed and mastered clients' music.
 
Mr. Swan's family was not ready to speak about him Thursday, but one of his bosses at Ellipse Communications, Lee O'Conner, said he was well-liked by co-workers. Mr. Swan joined the company about a year ago, hired at the suggestion of Theresa Butler, Mr. Butler's mother.
 
"Matt is Theresa's only child, and Steve was like a second son to her," Ms. O'Conner said. "I knew it was going to be a terrible, terrible loss for her."
 
At the company, Mr. Swan "was a fixture at the coffeemaker," she said. "He never washed his coffee mug, so we're going to keep that where it sits on his desk right where he left it."
 
Mr. Swan and Mr. Butler, who met at a Baptist students group at Collin College, shared a love of music.
 
Mr. Butler was a largely self-taught musician who played the guitar, drums and piano, Ms. Butler said. "He had such an ear for music," she said.
 
"I used to throw away strips of paper with lyrics on them all the time," she said. "And now I wish I never had."
 
Zion Gate Records was "his dream, his passion," Ms. Butler said.
 
In a 2006 interview, Mr. Butler told The Dallas Morning News he became enamored with recording in 2000 during a visit to a friend's makeshift studio. He started his own recording outfit in his parents' house and took audio-engineering courses at Collin College.
 
He started the studio three years ago, shortly after he and Ms. Butler married.
 
"We did one thing at a time as God provided and situations allowed," Mr. Butler told The News. "We waited when we had to wait, and we kept pushing forward even when the barriers seemed impossible to break. The doors that I've seen open and that continue to open – it tells me we're moving in the right direction."
 
Vince Barnhill, 41, who owns a Dallas recording studio, said he and Mr. Butler became friends after meeting at a live music session. "He was really excited about taking this thing to the next level," Mr. Barnhill said.
 
Mr. Butler also volunteered at churches, helping with the sound equipment.
 
"He tried to be the best servant to God he could be," Mr. Barnhill said.
 
"I just talked to him yesterday. He wanted to grab some sushi before he took his kids to Disney World July 5th," he said.
 
Mr. Butler had a son, Matthew Jr., 2, and a daughter, McKayla, 1. Mr. Swan was single and did not have children.
 
The two men had been friends for eight years, Ms. Butler said. Her husband once told her that if anything happened to him that she should keep the studio going and that Mr. Swan would help.
 
"Now that they are both gone, I am not sure what is going to happen," she said.
 
A funeral for Mr. Butler will be at 1 p.m. Monday at First Baptist Church Dallas. Services for Mr. Swan are pending.
 
A jam session in their honor will be at 4 p.m. Sunday at Zion Gate Studio.
 
"That is what he would have wanted," Ms. Butler said.
 
Staff writer Steve Thompson contributed to this report.
 

 
I heard a lot of shock and concern today about the shootings. Such a senseless act of violence is incomprehensible. It has left Garland residents stunned.
 
My thoughts and prayers go with both families as we morn the loss of Matthew Butler and Stephen Swan.