VIDEO: Assault suspect shoots at Fort Worth police officer. Injured cop continues chase
Video released Tuesday by the Fort Worth Police Department shows a suspect exchange gunfire with a patrol officer seconds after an investigative traffic stop and then flee in his car with the injured officer in pursuit.
The suspect was wanted for questioning in another shooting that occurred the evening of May 18. That night, a man pulled up to a business located in the 4800 block of Miller Avenue. Surveillance camera footage shows him talk briefly with someone who is off-camera. For some unknown reason, investigators say, the man pulls a handgun out of his shorts and shoots the victim once. A moment later he backs out of the driveway and leaves the scene.
The victim was shot in the shoulder, according to police. Officers who arrived at the scene learned the identity of a potential suspect, and the team in the Real Time Crime Center got license plate information on the suspect’s vehicle.
The following night, around 8:20 p.m., a patrol officer located the suspect’s vehicle and activated his lights and siren. Video from the officer’s dashboard camera shows the car stop and the suspect, identified as 33-year-old Devoreia Thompson, get out. Within seconds, Thompson pulls out a gun and fires several rounds at the officer.
The officer can be heard returning fire. The suspect’s car pulls away. The officer gives his location on the radio and begins pursuing Thompson.
“I may be hit,” the officer says.
The officer pursues the suspect’s vehicle through several streets, his siren blaring as he continues to call out Thompson’s location into the radio. Dashcam video shows the tail lights of the fleeing car up ahead.
Fort Worth Assistant Police Chief Robert Alldredge said at a news conference Tuesday that the shooting highlights the dangers officers face every day.
“The courage this officer exhibited is clear on video,” Alldredge said. “In order to keep the community safe and prevent anyone else from being shot, this officer took a proactive step in attempting to stop this violent offender once he received the alert. After initial encounters and uncertain if he had been shot himself, this officer continued to pursue a man that had just shot at him several times.”
The officer hasn’t been publicly identified, but Alldredge said he has 13 years of law enforcement experience. He’s been with the Fort Worth Police Department for around a year-and-a-half and is a neighborhood patrol officer in the East Division.
The officer’s vehicle was damaged during the chase, forcing him to stop after about a mile, police said. The injuries to his arm — which turned out to be caused by broken glass and not bullets — were treated at the scene, and he was taken to a local hospital.
A short time later, police found Thompson’s car parked at a home in the 5500 block of Summit Ridge Trail in Arlington. Members of the Fort Worth SWAT team took Thompson into custody without incident in the back yard, according to the video. It was then they realized Thompson had been shot in the lower back.
Alldredge said it hasn’t been determined yet if the Fort Worth officer was the one who shot Thompson.
Thompson was taken to a hospital and is still receiving medical treatment for his injuries, police said in a news release Tuesday. According to court records, Thompson has been charged with aggravated assault against a public servant.
The injured officer was released from the hospital with minor injuries the night of the shooting, police said. According to Alldredge, he is currently on critical police incident leave, which is standard procedure.
“He is being well taken care of and is anxious to get back to work in the neighborhood where he serves,” Alldredge said.
Thompson’s mother, Judy Russ, told WFAA-TV shortly after his arrest that he is mentally ill and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Russ described her son as “explosive” when he does not take his medication.
She said she has tried to get help for her son but has been unable to get him into a long-term treatment program.
“It’s a struggle every single day,” Russ told WFAA. “I just want to protect him from that illness and I couldn’t do it.”
This story was originally published May 28, 2024 at 5:35 PM.
