Police answered 38 calls to home of city worker accused in neighborhood shooting death

Officers have answered 38 calls in nine years to the home of a city worker accused of shooting to death a man near a church March 11, according to city records.

Of those calls from the home of Daniel Earl Hammack on the Near East Side, 27 were disturbances or suspicious persons or vehicles in the neighborhood, according to the records obtained by the Star-Telegram.

City records from March 2009 until March of this year indicated there were two domestic disturbance calls to Hammack's home. Criminal court records indicate no charges were filed in those cases.

Police also responded to calls of loud music/party, abandoned vehicles and an unconscious person.

Hammack is accused of confronting an "angry man" on the afternoon of March 11 just as a church service had ended at Gospel Tabernacle Church just off East Vickery Boulevard.

Hammack, 60, is accused of swinging a stick at 36-year-old Jason Knight before fatally shooting him.

Hammack had been a Fort Worth Water Department surveyor and was placed on paid administrative leave in March pending a city investigation. Information on his status was not available Thursday.

His attorney, Phillip Hall of Fort Worth, has said the shooting was a case of self-defense.

A Tarrant County grand injury indicted Hammack last week on a charge of murder.

"An indictment does not mean Hammack is guilty," Hall said after the indictment. "Our position remains the same. This was a justified homicide, and we believe Mr. Hammack will be exonerated."

On the afternoon of March 11, Hammack, his wife and his mother, Angelyn Hammack, had just locked the doors to the church in the 1500 block of Stella Street where Angelyn Hammack is a secretary, according to an arrest warrant.

They were walking to Angelyn Hammack's car when Knight confronted Daniel Hammack, she told police. The men talked and before long Hammack swung a stick he was carrying in his left hand at Knight.

Hammack then dropped the stick, pulled out a handgun and fired at Knight, the warrant states. Knight fell to the ground and Hammack approached Knight and shot him again while he was on the ground.

Hammack was taken into custoday that day, but he was released a few days later after posting $100,000 bail.

Among his bond conditions were that he not possess or purchase weapons, and that he not go within 400 feet of Gospel Tabernacle Church.

This report includes information from Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published June 14, 2018 at 12:57 PM with the headline "Police answered 38 calls to home of city worker accused in neighborhood shooting death."