In one shooting, Dallas ISD Officer Justin Jones, 39, was struck in the torso, Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux said.
By: Jamie Landers, Lola Jahant, Staff Writers
By midmorning Thursday, dozens of Dallas police officers had fanned out across two scenes: a pair of unrelated officer-involved shootings, separated by 90 minutes and less than three miles.The first stretch of yellow police tape went up in Melshire Estates, a quiet neighborhood in North Dallas stunned by a traffic stop gone awry.
Before investigators finished processing the scene, another burst of gunfire erupted in the parking lot of a nearby Sam’s Club. A Dallas ISD police officer had been shot in a separate incident.
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As investigators worked in the sweltering summer heat, top police officials held briefings at each scene, outlining how the morning unfolded.
The first call came in about 9:20 a.m., when officers responded to reports of an armed robbery in Oak Cliff.
Executive Assistant Chief Terrence Rhodes said a suspect stole a vehicle in the 3500 block of Sunnyvale Street in Oak Cliff before leading officers on a nearly 20-mile pursuit into North Dallas.
Rhodes said an officer fired their weapon as the suspect got out of the vehicle in the 5800 block of Williamstown Road. The unidentified suspect, who was not injured, was taken into custody, police said. No officers were hurt during the incident.
Patrol cars crowded the residential street for hours. Neighbors watched as investigators photographed evidence and a tow truck hauled the car away.
“This is probably the biggest excitement this neighborhood has seen in a decade,” resident Jonah Frieden said.
Then, about 10:50 a.m. — roughly an hour and a half after the Oak Cliff robbery — gunfire erupted outside a Sam’s Club less than three miles away.
In the store’s parking lot, Dallas Independent School District officer Justin Jones, 39, was shot in the torso after what Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux described as an encounter with a “man in crisis.”
According to Comeaux, Jones had been flagged down to help the man, who was walking on the highway. Jones sat him in his patrol vehicle and drove him to the wholesale store in the 4100 block of Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway, where investigators say the shooting occurred.
Jones was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital on Harry Hines Boulevard for surgery, Comeaux said. Dallas police referred questions about Jones’s condition to DISD, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
“We’re grateful for all the help we have received,” DISD Police Chief Albert Martinez said at the news conference. “He’s in our prayers.”
It was not immediately clear what led to the shooting or how it unfolded. The suspect, whom police did not name, was taken into custody, Comeaux said.
Outside the store Thursday afternoon, blood stains marred the pavement where a DISD patrol car sat, its doors open. On the floorboard of the rear passenger seat, an evidence marker could be seen beside a beat-up white baseball cap. Other evidence markers stood next to what appeared to be a black vest and an empty holster.
Occasionally, investigators huddled beneath a blue tent to escape the 99-degree heat, towels around their necks.
Sam’s Club workers brought out grocery carts full of water bottles and Gatorade for the investigators. Store lead Cory Evans, who was working when the shooting occurred, cracked open the sliding glass doors of the store’s front entrance to let officers inside, offering restrooms and complimentary pizza and hot dogs.
“It was just a bunch of panic and stories circulating,” Evans said of the chaos that followed the shooting. “We didn’t know whether to shut down or to evacuate.”
By 2 p.m., signs had been printed and taped to the entrance. The store would remain closed until Friday morning.
Staff writers Elissa Jorgensen, Lola Jahant and Sana Muneer contributed to this report.
Senior Breaking News Reporter
Jamie Landers is the senior breaking news reporter at The Dallas Morning News, where she covers crime, courts and capital punishment. She is a graduate of The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix, where she studied journalism and political science. Jamie previously reported for The Arizona Republic and Arizona PBS.
Staff Writer
Lola Jahant is a breaking news intern at The Dallas Morning News. She graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and is originally from Dallas. She has previously reported for KDFW-TV, D Magazine and the Columbia Missourian.
