Off-Duty Officer Fatally Shoots Suspect in Killing Near Northeast Dallas Walmart

By Sky Chadde Wed., Aug. 27 2014 at 10:00 AM

The scene from the latest officer-involved shooting Wednesday morning.

An off-duty Dallas police officer shot and killed a man police said is a suspect in a fatal shooting in Northwest Dallas early Wednesday.

Around 12:40 a.m., two men began to quarrel at the pumps of a gas station near Midpark Road and Central Expressway, police said. One of the men fired a shot, and the second drove forward into some parked cars. He was later found dead in his vehicle.

An off-duty Dallas officer who had just finished his shift at a nearby Walmart walked out of the the store to investigate. He saw several people, apparently including the shooter, get in a vehicle at the gas station and drive toward the street. He followed them in his own vehicle.

The car he was following stopped before exiting the Walmart's parking lot. The officer left his car and approached it and saw that one person in the vehicle had a gun.

"The officer gave specific directions to the suspect regarding the firearm," according to a police statement. "The suspect then took an action that made the officer believe he was in imminent danger. The officer then discharged his weapon."

The suspect, mortally wounded, drove away before colliding with several cars parked in a nearby lot.

The names of the dead and the officer have not been released.

Send your story tips to the author, Sky Chadde.

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FRED

"Northeast Dallas" ??? More like Richardson. Geography lessons needed at the Dallas Observer.

WaitWhat

The suspect, mortally wounded, drove away before colliding with several cars parked in a nearby lot.

Who's insurance pays for the cars? Does the city have to cover stuff like that?

Bobtex

Does this blog have an editor? The headline here says "Northeast Dallas." The story says "Northwest Dallas." The location of the incident, as reported in the story, was a gas station on the west side of Central Expressway, which is North, North Dallas. Is geography the problem here? Or just a matter of "I don't know where the hell I am."

Greg820

Is it the heat, humidity, or a combination of both making people act like fools?

becoolerifyoudid

@Bobtex It Drinking Week at City of Ate, so just assume all the editors are drunk by 9:00 a.m.

Los_Politico

@Bobtex what I came here to say.

TheRuddSki topcommenter

@Greg820

The culture. Criminals tend to kill and be killed a lot, this sounds like a meeting of criminals gone bad, which happens about once an hour in the US, weather permitting.

ThePosterFormerlyKnownasPaul topcommenter

@Greg820

"How's the cop business, Oscar?"

"Real good. Always starts hopping in weather like this. When it gets this hot, people try to kill each other." -- Oscar, Body Heat

Myrna.Minkoff-Katz topcommenter

@Greg820 It's the guns...

scott.reitz moderator

@becoolerifyoudid @Bobtex We're not animals. We don't start till noon.

ashleyboyter

The guns?!? Really?!? Could it be the idiot behind the gun making a conscious decision to pull the trigger???

Do you also blame the car when a drunk driver causes a fatal accident?

Is cutlery responsible for causing obesity? Or is it the person making conscious decisions to continue shoveling food in their mouths or making unhealthy decisions to begin with...

I have a stock pile of guns and ammo and not once has any of them removed themselves from the safe, loaded and pulled it's on trigger to kill someone.

Let me guess, you also voted for Osama...

TheRuddSki topcommenter

@Myrna

It's the guns

Really cool guns that can drive cars and point themselves at cops.

Chattering_Monkey

@Myrna.Minkoff-Katz @Greg820 do it

[URL=http://media.photobucket.com/user/theladybeth/media/SuicidalKitten.jpg.html][IMG]http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e47/theladybeth/SuicidalKitten.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

b-boy1970

@ashleyboyter How many massacres has a fork and spoon gone on lately?

rubbbrduky

@ashleyboyter I love your stance, and it is sad that these days people want to defend the bad guy. Any scenario is possible here, but who knows. I am 42 and own a firearm as well and have NEVER had to draw on someone. And I DID NOT vote for ( Sock YoMama )= barack obama....LOL

b-boy1970

@TheRuddSki Really cool bodies that charged at the bullets

ryan762

@TheRuddSki Of course, an off-duty cop in an unmarked car potentially looks just like everybody else, so an armed citizen could very well have the right to defend themselves from such a person using deadly force (granted, I assume he was working security for Wal-Mart and potentially in uniform in this case).

For all we know, the original shooter feared for his life when he shot and killed the other man and was merely defending himself and went looking for a police officer to lead back to the scene (or he wasn't the shooter at all. The officer didn't witness the shooting and could have been mistaken about the person's identity).