Prosecutors dismiss Forest Hill police officer’s murder indictment in killing at creek
A state district judge in Tarrant County on Friday dismissed a murder indictment in which a Forest Hill police officer was accused in the death of a homicide suspect who law enforcement authorities had concluded held a knife but did not present a reasonable and immediate threat when the officer shot him.
The Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office cited its prosecutorial discretion as it sought a dismissal order from Judge Vincent Giardino in the 396th District Court.
A grand jury in March 2022 indicted Officer Logan Barr in the death of 32-year-old Michael Ross. The indictment’s second count, aggravated assault by a public servant, was also dismissed.
Officer Barr fired a shotgun upon Ross after a sergeant shot the suspect with beanbag rounds while attempting to arrest him in June 2021.
Tarrant County Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Richard Fries determined that either a lacerated jugular vein or a transected femoral artery were capable of causing Ross’ death. While the transection of a femoral artery is likely to cause someone’s death more quickly than a lacerated jugular vein, the proximity of the jugular vein to the brain makes the loss of blood from that vessel very dangerous, Dr. Fries found.
“Therefore, [Fries] would not specify which injury in this case, the bean bags to the throat or the buckshot injury to the upper leg, caused the death of Mr. Ross,” Assistant District Attorney Tim Rodgers wrote in a disclosure to the defense.
A district attorney’s office spokesperson did not respond to a reporter’s request that the office elaborate on its dismissal decision.
Barr, 27, retained defense attorneys Bob Gill and Miles Brissette to represent him.
The fatal encounter occurred when Forest Hill officers responded to a stabbing call on June 9, 2021, in a Quik Trip parking lot at 6549 Wichita St.
Officers found a woman, 34-year-old Kiyana Hall, with stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Ross, whom Forest Hill police identified as a suspect in the stabbing, was found hiding in a creek just north of the Quik Trip, Texas Ranger Ike Upshaw wrote in an affidavit supporting an arrest warrant for Barr on aggravated assault by a public servant.
Barr and another officer could be heard on body-worn camera video shouting to Ross to drop the knife. A Forest Hill sergeant arrived on the scene and also began to order Ross to drop the knife.
The video showed Barr and the sergeant pointing handguns at Ross as he stood near the creek as the officers continually commanded the suspect to drop the knife. Barr stood at the top of an embankment on the south side while the sergeant stood on an embankment on the north end.
At some point, the sergeant went to his vehicle and retrieved a “less lethal” shotgun that fires beanbag rounds.
Ross paced in the creek as the sergeant returned and said, “Don’t [expletive] run, dude.”
As Ross stood in the creek, the sergeant fired four beanbag shots in succession, knocking Ross into the water on the fourth shot, according to the affidavit.
Ross stood back up, still holding the knife, but he later collapsed near a concrete block.
The sergeant yelled at Barr, “Hey, go get your shotgun,” and commanded him a second time, “Go get your shotgun, less lethal shotgun.”
After being told, “less lethal shotgun,” Barr is seen going to his vehicle’s driver’s side door, opening the door and retrieving a black shotgun.
Barr radioed, “Shotgun deployed,” and the sergeant told Barr, “Shoot him,” according to the affidavit.
Ross was unsteady on his feet with his pants down around his thighs, turning and walking away from the officers’ position, according to the affidavit. Ross turned back facing the officers when Barr fired two shots at Ross, causing the suspect to fall to the ground.
As he approached Ross, the sergeant shot at Ross’s barking dog and shouted commands at Ross to drop the knife.
In a statement to the press that Forest Hill police released in the hours after the shooting, the police wrote that the suspect attempted to harm himself with the knife. The department wrote that Ross turned toward an officer with the knife in hand.
In the affidavit, Ranger Upshaw wrote that he did not see Ross attempt to stab himself based on the officer’s body-worn camera video, and the suspect never made verbal threats, nor did he raise the knife in a threatening manner toward the officers, attempt to climb the muddy embankment toward the officers or make any effort to run away.
Ross was shot while facing Barr and the sergeant with his hands down by his side, holding the knife in his right hand, according to the affidavit.
Ross was about 15 to 20 feet from the officers while holding the knife.
“Ross did not pose a reasonable and immediate threat of death or bodily injury to the officers or others when he was shot,” Upshaw wrote in the affidavit.
This story was originally published January 24, 2025 at 6:15 PM.
