UTA senior, officer wounded in shootout at Arlington apartment

This article has been updated.

A senior math major at the University of Texas at Arlington was wounded Monday night in a shootout with police officers who were attempting to arrest him in the fatal shooting of a Saginaw teenager on Saturday.

Also wounded was Arlington police officer Eddie Johnston. He was released from a hospital Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Saginaw police said Joel Conner McCommon, 23, of Arlington, is a suspect in the death of 17-year-old Jordan Miles, a senior at Saginaw High School.

Miles was shot once about 2 p.m. Saturday in the 200 block of Creekside Drive.

Witnesses implicated McCommon in the shooting, Saginaw police Capt. Russell Ragsdale said Tuesday afternoon.

Saginaw police, who were looking for McCommon, found his vehicle Monday night in the 400 block of Summit Avenue, police reported.

Officers from Saginaw and Arlington tried to contact McCommon inside an apartment. Shortly before 11 p.m., McCommon opened the door and fired, injuring the officer. Police returned fire, hitting McCommon, according to a news release.

McCommon was at John Peter Smith Hospital under guard on Tuesday, Ragsdale said. His wounds are not life-threatening, he said.

Police are attempting to establish a motive for Miles’ shooting and to clear up the relationship between McCommon and Miles, Ragsdale said.

Arlington police Chief Will Johnson tweeted a photo of officer Johnston late Tuesday afternoon. Johnston has been on the Arlington police force for three years.

McCommon’s mother, Shelley McCommon, said her son is a senior math major at UTA who is expected to graduate in the fall.

“Oh, my God, he would never shoot anyone,” she said Tuesday, crying. “He works and he goes to school. He’s never been in any trouble before. He’s really smart.”

McCommon’s sister, Maggie McCommon, a student at Sam Houston State University, said authorities have told the family nothing. “All my brother does is work and go to school,” Maggie McCommon said.

Tuesday would have been Miles’ 18th birthday.

His mother, Akua Smith, said she was grateful for how quickly investigators responded.

“It just makes me know that Jordan’s life mattered to people and that the Saginaw police along with the Arlington police came together and proved that,” Akua Smith said.

Coincidentally, Johnston is the second Arlington police officer shot while trying to apprehend a suspect involved in a Saginaw homicide.

In July 2013, Arlington officer Charles Lodatto was shot in the femoral artery while helping to arrest Tyler Holder, who later pleaded guilty to killing 6-year-old Alanna Gallagher of Saginaw.

Lodatto was on a Safe Street FBI Task Force, which includes police officers from several area cities, that was summoned to serve a warrant for Holder at his house in Saginaw.

As Holder pulled a gun, another task force member bear-hugged him. The gun went off, sand Lodatto was struck.

Staff writers Monica S. Nagy and Mitch Mitchell contributed to this report, which includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 7:53 AM with the headline "UTA senior, officer wounded in shootout at Arlington apartment."