Dallas officer charged with deadly conduct fired gun into neighbor’s wall, police say
A Dallas police officer is under investigation after he allegedly fired his service weapon into the wall of a neighboring apartment while off duty, officials said.
Officer Jalen Thomas turned himself in to Arlington police July 25 on a deadly conduct warrant. The Dallas Police Internal Affairs Division was notified Tuesday, according to officials.
According to the complaint filed against Thomas, the 28-year-old fired a gun “at or in the direction of a residential wall,” putting the victim “in imminent danger of serious bodily injury.”
A spokesperson for the Arlington Police Department said officers responded to an apartment complex in the 8200 block of Hornisher Way around 11:20 p.m. on July 2. A resident reported hearing a noise like a gunshot and finding a bullet hole in their bathroom wall.
Thomas, who lived in the apartment next door, told the officers he accidentally fired the shot while preparing his gear for work, Arlington police said. He thought he’d made the pistol safe by removing the magazine, but a round was apparently still in the chamber and the gun went off when Thomas pulled the trigger, he told police.
The next-door resident was in another room when the shot was fired, and there were no reported injuries, officials said. Arlington police seized the handgun, which Thomas had put in his vehicle.
Thomas wasn’t taken into custody at the time, but “after further investigation and in consultation with the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, a warrant was obtained for the arrest of Mr. Thomas on one misdemeanor count of Deadly Conduct,” Arlington police said.
Thomas has been placed on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation into the incident, officials said.
Thomas was most recently assigned to the Northwest Patrol Division. He’s been a member of the Dallas Police Department since March 2022.
This story was originally published August 14, 2024 at 12:23 PM.
