Fort Worth police on Friday released portions of body-camera video and audio of 911 calls related to an incident in which the department said an officer shot and wounded an armed man on March 4.
The man appeared to be ready to draw his handgun on officers near a daycare in far north Fort Worth,Police Chief Neil Noakes said at a news conference on the morning of the shooting.
The man was shot in the abdomen and officers provided medical aid until he could be transported to a hospital.
Officers were responding to several 911 calls that came in about a disturbance around 7:15 a.m., police said. The callers reported seeing a man yelling in a field who appeared to be in distress. One of the 911 callers said the man told the caller “you’re under arrest” and threatened to “pull the trigger,” Noakes said.
Callers also reported the man walked into the street and was stopping traffic.
Officers encountered the man at the intersection of Park Vista Boulevard and Keller Haslet Road. They tried to talk to the man and provide assistance, but he was unresponsive and walked away from them, Noakes said. The officers then noticed a handgun in the waistband of the man’s pants.
The officers followed the suspect until they reached the 13000 block of Park Vista Boulevard, where Park Vista Children’s Academy is located. One of the officers then fired her Taser, but that proved to be ineffective, Noakes said.
The suspect reached down to take out his weapon, Noakes said. The officers were concerned he was about to shoot and one of them fired at least one shot, which hit the man in the abdomen, the chief said.
Noakes said the officers were concerned about an armed man being so close to the daycare and were afraid he would try to go inside. Park Vista Children’s Academy is closed on Saturdays, and no children or staff were on site during the incident, he said.
Noakes confirmed that the gun the officers saw was recovered after the shooting.
The Crisis Intervention Team — officers with special training on how to deal with mental health issues — did not initially respond to the call, but came later, Noakes said. The suspect’s erratic behavior and threat to “pull the trigger” on one of the 911 callers who tried to help him made getting officers to the site a priority, the chief said.
“The patrol officers who came in worked hard to deescalate the situation themselves, worked hard to connect with this gentleman, did everything they can to provide whatever assistance he needed,” Noakes said. “Unfortunately he was unresponsive to those requests to assist him.”
The Major Case Unit, the Internal Affairs Unit and the Tarrant County District Criminal Attorney’s Office are investigating the circumstances of the shooting, Noakes said.