DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Dallas police released body camera footage on Thursday showing officers warning an armed suspect multiple times early Wednesday before the confrontation ended in a barrage of bullets.
Officer Brandy Walling sustained a minor injury. The suspect, now identified as 64-year-old Darrell Hibbard, later died at a local hospital.
“This is never our intended outcome,” Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said at a press briefing to release body camera footage from all three responding officers.
Garcia called the cameras one of the “best things to happen to law enforcement” in a career spanning more than 30 years.
“I can come up here and tell you all day long how scary that situation was, right? You’re not gonna get the feeling to see the reaction of those officers facing an armed gunman in a gun battle,” Garcia said.
Officers were called out to the 10300 block of Shiloh Road just before 5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning after receiving several 911 calls reporting a man with a gun.
Walling was first on scene. Her body camera captured her screaming at least 30 commands for Hibbard to drop his weapon as he appeared to stand near the sidewalk in front his home.
That officer – her voice becoming more strident – even warning Hibbard “you’re going to get shot.” After about a minute and a half of such commands, the exchange ends in a barrage of gunfire.
And while the body camera shows officers in the line of fire – two patrol vehicles were hit by bullets – the video cannot answer the pressing question of why Hibbard refused to drop his weapon.
“I have no idea,” Garcia said in response to a reporter question. “We need to try to get more history on this individual, what he was thinking. But at this point, we don’t know why he did not or why he began to fire at my officers.”
As multiple investigations continue to pursue answers, Garcia said they are exploring possible mental health issues. According to Garcia, more weapons were found stashed on Hibbard’s porch. Even after he was wounded, Garcia said Hibbard continued to point his weapon at officers.
“It gives you all a sense of what they face every day… the dangers of this honorable profession,” Garcia said.
