Dallas Shooting at Federal Courthouse
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2019/06/17/shots-fired-federal-courthouse-downtown-dallas
A man in a mask and combat boots who opened fire Monday morning at the Earle Cabell federal courthouse in downtown Dallas was shot by officers before the shooter could injure anyone.
The shooter was taken to a nearby hospital after police responded to an active shooter call around 8:50 a.m.
Dallas police detonated a suspicious device around 10:40 a.m. in the man's vehicle. The blast was strong enough to shake several sapling trees blocks away. police were searching downtown for other possible devices. Many downtown buildings are on lockdown or evacuated. Many streets are closed as police search for suspicious devices.
Dallas Morning News photographer Tom Fox witnessed the shooter opening fire outside the building. The window panes in the revolving door of the entrance of Commerce Street were broken afterward. It is unclear if the door was shot by the shooter or law enforcement.
A photo taken by Fox shows law enforcement standing around the shooter, who is lying on the ground without a shirt on. The identity of the person has not been confirmed. The shooter had a red heart tattoo with a black drawing inside, possibly of an animal, on his left arm.
Law enforcement officers tend to a man who they took down after he fired shots at the Earle Cabell federal building and courthouse in downtown Dallas on Monday morning, June 17, 2019.
Fox, who was questioned by the FBI, said he was outside the building a man in a mask parked on the corner of Jackson and Griffin streets. He ran and then stopped in the street to pick something off the ground.
The man then began shooting at the courthouse and cracked the glass of the door, Fox said. Inside the building security pushed everyone down to the ground.
Security appeared to be letting some people into the building just before 9:30 a.m.
The shooting is a block from the July 7, 2016 ambush where five police officers – four Dallas police officer and a Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer – were killled by a gunman. Nearby El Centro College was placed on lockdown. During the ambush, that shooter entered the school and fired at the fifth officer who was killed from a window.
An FBI agent outside the Earle Cabell federal building Monday morning after shots were fired.
Ed Modla was working from home at SoCo Urban Lofts this morning when he heard at least 10 loud shots outside. He looked outside and saw the gunman running across Griffin Street.
"As soon as I saw the shooter I got the hell away from the window," he said.
He took another peek from his third-floor window a few moments later and said he saw officers "zeroing in" on the suspect across the street.
Judicial intern Thompson Du was waiting outside Monday morning after officials kept him from going inside. Du said his friends who were already nearby when the shooting occurred told him they heard shots for 45 seconds.
Don Miles heard 10-15 shots as he walked up to the Commerce Street entrance for his 9 a.m. appointment.
"I just ran," Miles said.
Herman Turner, 50, took the day off work to run errands at the courthouse. He said he was on his way to get a cashier's check when he saw the gunman run from the courthouse door near Main and Griffin streets, plant himself in the middle of the road and begin firing an assault rifle back at the building.