Two people were killed and four others — including three officers — were wounded Saturday evening after a man armed with a rifle opened fire in Haltom City, police say.
The man died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Haltom City police said. The three officers and other wounded person were hospitalized and are expected to survive, police said.
Haltom City police Sgt. Richard Alexander said officers responded about 6:45 p.m. to the 5700 block of Diamond Oaks Drive North, near Denton Highway, after a woman called 9-1-1 to report shots fired. About six minutes later, more shots were fired and officers were reported injured a minute later, Alexander said.
A woman inside a home and a man who was in the driveway of the home near a motorcycle were killed, Alexander said.
An elderly woman who called 9-1-1 was possibly struck in the leg but is expected to survive, Alexander said.
The gunman was found with a military-style rifle and a handgun in the 3900 block of Golden Oaks Drive, just a couple blocks from where the gunfire was reported, after a “fairly lengthy” search, Alexander said.
Officers shot at the gunman, but it was unclear whether the man was struck by police gunfire, Alexander said. The Texas Ranger will be investigating.
Police did not release the names of any of the dead or wounded, and it was unclear what led up to the shooting.
“Let us work, we’ll get all the information out as quick as we can,” Alexander said. “But just pray for all of us, the families, and we’ll pull through this and be strong like we always are.”
The law enforcement presence in the area grew throughout the early evening during the search for the gunman, and Haltom City police urged residents near Denton Highway and Glenview Drive to remain in their homes.
Video taken at the scene showed a bevy of police and fire vehicles parked along a residential street. Heavily armed officers could be seen running down a road, and one officer unloaded a robot from the back of a police vehicle.
“OK, so we have an active shooter in the area,” an officer told a crowd gathered across the street about 8 p.m. “He is armed. Please leave for your safety. Please leave. He’s shot multiple people already. Please leave.”
Residents continued to gather despite officers’ requests to disperse, and a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter circled the area.
Police from other departments in the area were seen driving to the neighborhood with sirens on.
Police announced the gunman was no longer a threat about 9:15 p.m.
A heavy police presence remained about two hours later in front of Christ the King Lutheran Church, near where the shooting happened. Patrol cars lined the streets on each side of the church, representing agencies including Fort Worth and Haltom City police, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department.
Sarah Malone, 42, said she started to receive texts and calls from Haltom City police shortly after 8 p.m., including four automated voice messages and four texts within two hours describing a “shooting suspect at large” and urging residents to shelter in place.
The last message, sent after 10 p.m., said the shelter-in-place order had been lifted.
She said she was out with friends and told her wife to “get inside the house.”
“This is a lot of response … the most cops ever,” Malone said outside her home on Mack Road, across Denton Highway from where officers were gathered. Malone said their neighborhood of single-family homes northeast of Fort Worth is normally quiet.
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