FORT WORTH, Texas — Fort Worth police have charged the man they say shot at an officer Sunday with aggravated assault of a public servant, a felony.
Authorities say the shooting happened when an east division officer approached 33-year-old Devoreia Thompson, a person of interest in a separate shooting on Saturday, May 18.
A police spokesperson said the officer, who's not been identified, spotted and followed a car the department had previously flagged in connection to the Saturday shooting.
Citing eyewitness accounts, police say Thompson stopped the car on his own, got out of the vehicle and raised his hands. When the officer got out of his cruiser and approached Thompson, police say the 33-year-old drew a gun and fired at the lawman.
The officer returned fire, but police have not yet said whether his bullets struck Thompson.
"We had a coward try to take out one of my officers tonight," Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes said during a press conference after the shooting. "From what we know now, he came out as if he was giving up and pulled a gun as the officer was getting out of the car and shot at him multiple times, forcing my officer to protect his own life and lives of all the residents around here."
Police say Thompson drove away and the officer chased him until his patrol unit, damaged by gunfire, sputtered out. Authorities found and arrested Thompson at his Arlington home Sunday night, within two hours of the shootout.
The officer involved in the shooting was injured by flying debris from the patrol car during the shooting, police said. The officer has since been released from the hospital with minor injuries and is recovering with his family, according to a FWPD statement.
The injured officer has been with the department for a year-and-a-half and was a lateral transfer from a neighboring agency, according to police.
The Saturday shooting
Police issued a "be on the lookout" Saturday for a black Nissan spotted at the scene of a shooting outside the American Food Store on Miller Avenue.
Security footage shows a man exit the sedan, approach an alley behind the convenience store, and fire. The shooter walked back to the vehicle and drove away.
Moments later, the victim walked away with a bullet wound in his shoulder.
Five witnesses told WFAA they recognized the shooter as a person they know has mental health problems. They said they believe he was having a mental health episode and was not targeting the man behind the store, though they believe the two men know each other.
"I honestly believe that - whoever happened to be back there at that time - it would've been them (who got shot)," witness Marcus Shepherd told WFAA.
Police have not confirmed whether Thompson was the Saturday shooter, but have identified him as a person of interest in that case.
Mental health concerns
Thompson's mother, Judy Russ, told WFAA Sunday night he has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He can be "explosive" when he does not take his medication, Russ said.
She added that she'd tried to get her son help, but could not secure long-term treatment for him. She said she'd spoken to her son Sunday, before the shootout with police, and that he sounded okay.
"It's a struggle every single day," Russ added. "I just want to protect him from that illness and I couldn't do it."