Police Predicament
No gun found, no charges filed in so-called active shooter situation at Victory Park
Dallas police revealed that no charges have been filed against a man who barricaded himself in an apartment complex on March 25 and instigated "active shooter" protocol downtown. Police apprehended the suspect around 1 pm and have yet to locate a gun or weapon of any kind.
After responding to a reports of shots being fired around 10 am, patrol officers called in the SWAT team. It was determined that someone had shot out several windows at the Vista Apartments in the 2300 block of Houston Street.
"We cannot definitively say what led this man to his actions," Dallas Police Lt. Scott Walton said.
"They realized there could be an armed individual who was shooting from an elevated position, and this was a dangerous situation," Lt. Scott Walton said at an afternoon press conference. "At this time we have not found a weapon. There are still officers looking through the apartment to see what they can find."
Walton said a number of tactics were used in the standoff, including tear gas. The suspect walked out the front door and has been taken into protective custody. His name is not being released, as he has not been charged with a crime. Police alluded to mental health issues but declined to elaborate, citing medical privacy laws.
Walton would not confirm reports that the suspect had been served eviction papers just moments before the standoff began. "We cannot definitively say what led this man to his actions," Walton said.
Dallas police investigators will continue to look at the case to determine what, if any, charges will be filed. "I really can't discuss what we took him into custody for," Walton said. "But he has been taken into custody so he could be evaluated to make sure that he's okay."
A host of downtown businesses and schools were on lockdown for several hours during the standoff, including the Perot Museum, AT&T Performing Arts Center, the Dallas Aquarium and the W Dallas Victory hotel.
"There's a lot of concerns that you have in this situation. You have someone in an elevated position that you don't know what their intent is," Walton said. "The other part is we are actually trying to control the traffic. We set a perimeter based on safety parameters."
Police stressed that the precautions were all in the interest of public safety. "We have tactics and methods that we use to make sure we end up with the best possible outcome where everybody goes home safe, and that's exactly what happened today," Walton said.
