HOMELESS WOMAN ACCIDENTALLY SHOT DEAD BY ROOKIE COP

A Rookie Police Officer’s Gunshot Intended for a Dog, Kills a Texas Woman

By Neil Vigdor

The New York Times
August 2, 2019

A woman was accidentally shot and killed Thursday in Texas by a rookie Arlington police officer whose bullets were intended for her loose dog, the police said, an episode caught on the officer’s body camera.

The victim of the shooting, which happened around 5:20 p.m. near a shopping center in the Dallas suburb, was identified by the Tarrant County medical examiner as Margarita Brooks. The 30-year-old, known as Maggie, appeared to be homeless, people in the neighborhood said, according to The Associated Press.

The officer, whose name has not been released and had just completed field training on July 1, had responded to a 911 call about an unresponsive woman in the grass of a commercial area.

The body camera footage, which captured part of the fatal episode, was released Friday by the Arlington Police Department.

“Get back,” the officer shouted at the approaching dog, a 40-pound Labrador mix that was not leashed.

That’s when the officer, who the Police Department said is 25 years old, fired repeatedly at the dog.

“Oh my God,” Ms. Brooks was heard screaming in the video. “The police shot me.”

A bullet hit Ms. Brooks in the upper torso, according to Will Johnson, the Arlington police chief. He said during a news conference on Friday that both criminal and internal affairs investigations of the shooting were underway.

It was unclear whether the officer was firing warning shots at the dog, which Chief Johnson said suffered a flesh wound and is in quarantine. The chief said Ms. Brooks’ family had been shown the body camera footage.

“Everything about this call is an absolute tragedy,” Chief Johnson said. “Our hearts are broken for the Brooks family and for the officer involved. Our officer was on scene trying to find an individual who may be suffering from a medical emergency. Clearly, this is not the outcome the officer wanted, nor is it the outcome that the department wanted.”