Allen Outlets Shooting: Police body camera video shows officer confronting gunman
ALLEN, Texas - Leaders in the law enforcement community and those who train officers are praising the work of the Allen officer who tracked down the mass shooter last month.
The Allen Police Department released new police body camera video from the Allen Premium Outlets on May 6.
Eight people were killed, including three children, and at least seven others were injured at the open-air mall before an officer, who was in the area on another call, responded.
Body camera video is below. Viewer discretion is advised.
The video begins with the officer telling a group of kids to use their seatbelts when several gunshots are heard in the background.
"I think we got shots fired at the outlet mall," the officer can be heard saying.
Video shows the officer grabbing his rifle out of his vehicle and sprinting across a parking lot toward the gunshots.
"Get going. Get going. Get moving," he can be heard saying to people in the area. "Get out of here!"
The officer had the presence of mind to relay constant contact with dispatch.
"I think we got a mass shooter. I got a mass shooter on foot," he says into his radio while still running towards the gunfire.
As he gets closer to the action, the officer passes several victims lying by the H&M store. He tells some of the injured that help is on the way. At this point, the officer still doesn't have eyes on the shooter.
"I'm by Tommy Hilfiger, I don't know where he's at," he said.
Then, as the officer approaches J.Crew, he locates the gunman, shooting and killing him just over two minutes after the first shots were fired.
"I got him down," the officer yells. "I'm not hearing any gunshots."
From the body camera video, you can tell the officer was a good distance away when he fired the fatal shot.
The shooter was down outside Fatburger when the officer reached him, which was at least five or six stores away from where the officer took position, aimed and fired.
On Tuesday, a Collin County grand jury returned a "no bill" for the use of force by the officer after reviewing the facts of the case.
The "no bill" indicated the use of force was justified under Texas law and no charges will be filed against them.
Craig Miller is a retired Dallas ISD police chief, and he isn’t surprised by the no-bill. He says the officer did exactly what he was trained to do.
"His actions were unbelievable, the way that he was able to respond," Miller said. "He's doing exactly what he's trained. He's asking for backup. Immediately he gets on dispatch, tells him what he's got, but at the same time, he's running to the running to the issue, running to this incident."
Miller points out the officer had the wherewithal to grab his rifle, allowing him to take the kill shot from such a far distance.
Eight people died that fateful day, while simply out at the mall on a sunny afternoon.
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Miller says had that officer not been there that day and sprung into action, he has no doubt it would've been a lot worse.
"His actions stopped and saved so many other lives from being possibly injured or involved in the situation because that shooter wasn't anticipating a police officer being in there that quickly," Miller said.
Criminal justice expert Alex Del Carmen says it’s important to keep in mind there were countless scenarios this officer could have encountered as he ran alone toward the shooter.
"Had this officer not shown up, who knows how many additional people would’ve died," he said. "Remember that this officer doesn’t know that the aggressor is only one person. We know that now. But at the time that the officer showed up, there could’ve two or three people out there, and yet he takes his chance on his own life."
The officer has asked to remain anonymous, and Allen police tells FOX 4 that he does not wish to do any interviews at this time.
"This video shows how quickly a routine interaction with the public turned into a life-and-death situation," said Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey in a statement. "The officer recognized the danger, ran toward the gunfire and neutralized the threat – and for his actions, the Allen community is forever grateful."
The Allen Police Department also requested an independent review of the incident by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
The Allen Fire Department released a 66-page report earlier this month that said medics saved every ‘recoverable’ victim in the shooting.
"Every recoverable victim was saved," said Dr. Kevin Hoffman, the department's medical director. "If it were not for the training police and fire personnel had, I don't think we would have been as fortunate."
The last hospitalized survivor was released from Medical City McKinney last week.
The hospital said while there was no celebration for the release of the last patient, there were plenty of tears shared between the staff, the patient, and their family.