Suspect identified in fatal Irving police shooting

An armed man shot to death by an Irving police officer has been identified as Rodney L. Henderson, police said.

Henderson died at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas Tuesday morning shortly after being shot by the officer, Irving police spokesman James McLellan said in an email.

Henderson was holding two large knives on a woman when he was shot, police said.

Police did not release the name of the officer who was placed on administrative leave with pay. Three other officers who were on the scene at the time of the shooting also were on administrative leave with pay.

“The officer’s name will be withheld at a minimum until the internal investigation is complete,” McLellan said.

Henderson was a registered sex offender, convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a 20-year-old woman in July 1993, according to Texas Department of Public Safety records. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison and later paroled.

One officer shot the suspect after a Taser was tried a couple of times, McLellan said in a Tuesday telephone interview.

“The suspect had cut the victim and barricaded them both in an upstairs bedroom,” McLelland said in a news release.

The woman was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Officers responded to the 911 call shortly before 6:30 a.m. Tuesday from a woman who told a dispatcher that a man was trying to kill her with a knife. Police arrived at a home in the 1400 block of South Story Road and heard screaming.

Officers forced their way inside and then forced open a bedroom door, McLellan said.

“They found the suspect holding the victim at knifepoint,” McLellan said. “The suspect refused to comply with commands to drop two large knives and release the victim.”

An officer fired at the suspect when the Tasers failed, police said.

Henderson was taken to Parkland Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:15 a.m., police said.

The officers involved were not injured, McLellan said.

Police had responded to that location four other times on domestic dispute calls before Tuesday, according to police reports.

The calls involved Henderson and the woman each time, police said. A written report was made during one call and a ticket for simple assault was issued once, according to police reports.

Henderson was arrested twice for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one case was dismissed and he was convicted of aggravated assault with a hammer and sentenced to 240 days, according to police reports.

This story was originally published May 3, 2017 at 3:11 PM with the headline "Suspect identified in fatal Irving police shooting."