What we know about the 37-year-old woman who police say fired shots at Dallas Love Field
READ MORE
Police shoot armed woman at Dallas Love Field
An armed woman who was dropped off at Dallas Love Field Airport was wounded by a police officer after she opened fire inside the airport Monday morning, the Dallas police chief said. The 37-year-old woman, who was not identified, has been taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. No other injuries have been reported.
Expand All
The woman who police said fired shots inside Dallas Love Field airport on Monday was charged three years ago with robbery after an encounter with a bank teller in Collin County.
A judge dismissed the charge against Portia Odufuwa on May 31, 2019. A mental competency evaluation report was filed in the case also on that date, according to a court record. The report’s conclusions are not described in the online record.
Odufuwa entered a Bank of America in Wylie on April 5, 2019, and displayed a note demanding money, police said. Officers said they found Odufuwa in an adjacent area as she attempted to walk or run. After a short pursuit, police took Odufuwa into custody.
Odufuwa fired shots from a gun toward the airport ceiling and at a Dallas police officer at midday Monday before a the officer shot her, police said. She was taken to a hospital.
Odufuwa is 37. Public records indicate she lives in Wylie and previously had residences in other North Texas cities and in California.
In September 2020, she was detained by an officer at Love Field and transported for a mental health evaluation, according to Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia.
Also in September 2020, a person applied to a court for an order protecting the person from Odufuwa. A judge denied the application, according to a court record.
In October 2019, police arrested Odufuwa in Mesquite on suspicion of arson in connection with a house fire, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Odufuwa was standing outside the burning house when she indicated to a police officer that she started the fire intentionally, according to an arrest warrant affidavit included in the newspaper’s report.
“I am God’s prophet, and I need an attorney, but I’m basically letting you all know that I am the cause of this fire,” she said, according to the affidavit.
She also said she was married to rapper Chris Brown, a false claim she repeated during the airport shooting, according to affidavits, the Dallas Morning News reported.
A grand jury declined to indict Odufuwa in the arson case, according to the Dallas Morning News.
According to WFAA-TV, court documents also show Odufuwa went to outpatient therapy after she was found incompetent to stand trial on a Dallas County charge of filing a false report in 2021.
She didn’t successfully complete the therapy but was released to be “fully engaged in mental health services with a different provider,” WFAA reported, citing court documents.
Garcia said Tuesday that investigators did not know what Odufuwa’s motive might have been in the shooting or where she had gotten the handgun, which she was prohibited to own. She had been prohibited from owning a weapon since 2018, Garcia said.
The police chief said she had tried to buy a gun in Texas at least twice since 2016 but was rejected because of an outstanding traffic warrant in New Mexico.
This story was originally published July 25, 2022 at 6:26 PM.
