Suspect in Arlington shooting still critical; officials deciding charges

The man shot by police at the Parks at Arlington mall Sunday remained in critical condition Tuesday as officials pondered his charges.

William Paul Dodd, 21, of Arlington is accused of pointing a replica handgun at police, prompting an officer to shoot him multiple times inside the crowded mall.

When Dodd is released from the hospital he will be transported to the Arlington Jail. Samantha Jordan, spokeswoman for the Tarrant County district attorney's office, said the charges haven't been determined.

"Since it's believed to be that the replica weapon was being used against the officer, it could be an aggravated assault charge, but it's still unclear at this time," she said Tuesday.

According to Tarrant County criminal records, Dodd has been arrested seven times since November 2014. Charges have included misdemeanor offenses such as theft of property, DWI, criminal trespassing, burglary of a vehicle and possession of controlled substances. Dodd was also indicted on June 8, 2016, on charges of credit/debit card abuse and theft of a firearm.

He was sentenced in August to nine months in state jail for the credit card offense and eight months for theft of a firearm, to be served concurrently. But he wound up receiving credit for time served in jail from prior drug offenses, Jordan said.

"It's took us awhile to figure out what happened in sentencing," said Jordan.

She said when Dodd was sentenced for the credit/debit card abuse felony on Sept. 23, 2016, he had been in custody long enough to cover the sentence, so he received credit.

"It was within the judge's discretion to credit the defendant's time served on the charges and the months he spent in the SAFP," said Jordan.

The theft of a firearm felony sentence was set to begin Aug. 18, 2017, but Dodd had already been a part of the Texas Substance Abuse Treatment Program, more commonly known as SAFP, long enough to receive credit for time served.

"The SAFP program is not used often because many drug abuse offenders view the program as a really stringent drug rehab and would rather serve jail time instead," said Jordan. "It's amazing that another misdemeanor offense (theft of sunglasses) caused this scene."

Sunday's episode began after Dodd hwas identified by mall security staff as the person who took two pairs of sunglasses worth $300-$400 from Sunglass Hut at about 4:20 p.m. Two uniformed Arlington police officers initially responded.

Cook said police had also encountered Dodd at about 2 p.m. Friday.

"He committed a traffic violation and an officer in our south unit attempted to make a traffic stop for that traffic violation and he took off," said Cook.

He said that during the brief chase Dodd drove aggressively, constantly switching lanes during a peak traffic time, in the area of South Bowen and West Sublett roads. He said the responding officer was able to identify the registration on the vehicle and a higher-ranking officer decided to cancel the pursuit.

Then Dodd called 911 Sunday around 3 p.m. while police were looking for him, Cook said.

"In the call Mr. Dodd claimed that he was a suspect in an evading-arrest call," said Cook. "At one point during the call he said, 'I know Arlington is looking for me but I got a gun so if y'all pull me over I'm gonna shoot, so just be ready.' " Cook said Dodd ended the call and the dispatcher called him back.

He answered, refused to turn himself in and said he was at Stovall Park in south Arlington.

"He reiterated that he had a gun and would shoot police," said Cook. "We had an officer and sergeant make contact with Mr. Dodd again and they said he sounded to be intoxicated or incoherent. So we sent officers to Stovall Park."

An hour and 20 minutes later, at the mall, Dodd tried to flee from security. He ran toward an escalator. Police released two images late Sunday showing the encounter. The suspect, on the escalator, appears to be pointing a firearm at the police officer on the lower deck.

The officer fired at Dodd, striking him multiple times.

Investigators later recovered a replica firearm that discharges BBs, or pellets.

Dodd was taken to Medical City Arlington for treatment.

This story was originally published November 28, 2017 at 12:34 PM with the headline "Suspect in Arlington shooting still critical; officials deciding charges."