ARLINGTON – At least two police officers will now respond to all domestic assault calls after rookie Officer Jillian Michelle Smith was fatally shot last December while taking a report about a domestic disturbance between a woman and her ex-boyfriend.
Police Chief Theron Bowman announced the temporary policy change Wednesday at a news conference that that also revealed communication failures and policy violations in the 911 Dispatch Center that city officials said jeopardized other officers' lives the night of Smith's murder. Those failures led to one employee being fired Wednesday and another employee resigning, officials said. Police officers’ ability to determine what had happened at the scene “was significantly impacted” by a lack of information provided by radio dispatchers, according to a review.Officials stressed, however, that while mistakes were made, “there was nothing officers or dispatchers could have done to change the tragic outcome of this incident.”Smith, a 24-year-old rookie officer who had responded alone to take a domestic violence report, was fatally shot in the head. Smith was at the Arbrook Park Apartments in southeast Arlington on Dec. 28 to take a report on a domestic abuse incident from Kimberly Deshay Carter, 29. Carter said she had been assaulted earlier by her ex-boyfriend, Barnes Samuel Nettles.The initial police investigation indicated that Nettles — a registered sex offender with a long criminal history — returned with a gun while Smith was taking the report and fatally shot Smith and Carter before turning the gun on himself.Carter’s 11-year-old daughter, who was at the apartment, escaped unharmed.Police officials and an autopsy report released in March by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s office showed that Smith -- who was wearing a bullet-proof vest -- was shot behind the left ear in the apartment’s dining room. Nettles then shot Carter in the right temple in the dining room, the report said.Police said last December that evidence and witness statements led them to believe that Smith was trying to shield the child when she was fatally shot. A Glock 17 9mm pistol and a King Cobra .357 revolver were recovered from the scene, according to the autopsy report.Carter was reportedly alone at her apartment that night with her daughter, so Smith responded without backup, police said.The incident review released Wednesday said officers who had been called to check on the welfare of Officer Smith were also asked to respond to a call of a shooting in progress, and dispatchers did not provide the officers with information that would have connected the two calls.Although police officials have said it’s standard for one officer to respond to a low-priority call, Police Chief Theron Bowman said days after Smith’s death that the department would review its policies and procedures to "see what lessons there are to be learned."Staff writer Mitch Mitchell contributed to this report.Susan Schrock, 817-390-7639
