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Four Officers Shot In Standoff

POSTED: 5:22 pm CDT August 20, 2006
UPDATED: 9:01 pm CDT August 20, 2006


MIDLOTHIAN, Texas -- Four officers were shot Sunday in a standoff in a Midlothian apartment complex, police said.

Three Midlothian Police Department officers and one Texas state trooper were hospitalized.

The officers were responding to a broken window call at about 2:30 p.m. at the complex on 14th and G streets when the shootings occurred.


After arriving on the scene, the officers saw that the window was shattered by a gunshot. The officers then traced the trajectory of the bullet and determined which apartment it originated from.

When the officers entered that apartment unit, the suspect Richard Miles, immediately opened fire, police said. Investigators said the suspect shot the state trooper after he responded to the report of the other three officers being wounded.

The suspect then barricaded himself in the apartment unit, police said. He was negotiating with officers more than four hours later by passing notes. Police said he did not have a phone, and he wasn't holding any hostages.

All four injured officers were transported to Methodist Dallas Medical Center.

Trooper Rick Smith was undergoing surgery for a gunshot wound under the eye.

Sgt. Brian Woolery, 34, was in intensive care in stable condition. He has been with the MPD four and a half years. Officer Cody McKinney, 28, was shot in the elbow, knee and thigh. McKinney has been with MPD for three and a half years. Officer Dustin Compton, 30, was shot in the calf. He has been with the department three and a half years.

Police said they do not know why the suspect was shooting or chose to target the officers.

Several police agencies were assisting in the standoff situation including DPS, Duncanville, Cedar Hill, Ellis County, and Johnson County.

Midlothian is about 25 miles southwest of Dallas.

what a dickhead, i hope he goes down hard

This guy is going down hard.

I heard on the local news that one officer was shot in the eye

Texicans can shoot

The local Dallas FOX News affiliate showed video of almost constant automatic fire from SWAT into the apartment; pausing only to fire in tear gas.

Quoted: Texicans can shoot

This POS needs a dirt nap.

Quoted: The local Dallas FOX News affiliate showed video of almost constant automatic fire from SWAT into the apartment; pausing only to fire in tear gas.

LOL cool, I hope this guy gets riddled with lead.

I wonder what the rest of the story is....

Oh

Hope the officers are OK. Under the eye is not good.

Hope the cops blast this SOB.
Prayers for the officers

Quoted: Hope the officers are OK. Under the eye is not good.

This particular officer is a TX State Trooper.  Turns out the bullet is currently lodged in his neck and he's conscious.  His wife was quite calm as she was interviewed on the news and said she was hopeful because he's a "real trooper."  She realized her gaffe and corrected herself saying he's a "trooper within a Trooper."

All 4 of the wouded officer are going to be ok.  The bad apparently popped himself in the dome.  


Over seven hours after a routine call turned into three officers and a state trooper being shot, a standoff ended when Officer Britt Snipes said police entered an apartment to find the suspect dead from a self-inflicted wound around 11:00 p.m. Sunday in Ellis County.    
   
Police said 25-year-old Richard Miles, reported to be armed with a 9mm gun, fortified himself inside an apartment at Stonegate Apartments in the 100 block of North Fourteenth Street in Midlothian.    
   
The incident began after a neighbor called police and complained of a sudden broken window in the complex. When police arrived on the scene around 3:30 p.m., they discovered the window was broken by a gun shot, police said.    
   
After locating the broken window to apartment number 49, police said they knocked on the door and a man then came out shooting.    

All of the injured lawmen were listed in conditions that ranged from stable to fair around 10:30 p.m.    
   
Sgt. Brian Woolery, 34, was shot in the shoulder, foot and chest. The officer's bulletproof vest was credited in helping save his life after they discovered a bullet lodged within it.    
   
Officer Dustin Compton, 30, was reported to have been shot in the calf; while Cody McKinney, 28, was reported to have been shot in the elbow, knee and thigh.    
   
Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Rick Smith, 52, was shot underneath his right eye and the bullet lodged in his neck. His condition was listed as good. Smith has served as a DPS trooper for five years.    
   
"[I'm] mostly in shock, but I knew all these troopers would be with me because they are a great family," said Roberta Smith, the trooper's wife, after rushing to the hospital. "My Air Force family is with me as well."    
   
DPS troopers were also at the Methodist Dallas Medical Center, which was where all the lawmen were taken, to support the officers and trooper.    
   
"The emotions are high and the concerns are the worst," said DPS Trooper Dub Gillum of the condition of the lawmen's loved ones. "I mean they are fearful, but they are prayerful...They are hoping for the best outcome."      
   
Around 5:30 p.m., more shots were fired at the complex, and at about 8:00 p.m. officers shot gas into the apartment in an attempt to draw the suspect out. However, the suspect remained barricaded in the apartment.    
   
Miles had not answered attempts from officers to contact him through the phone, police said.    
   
Friends of the suspect said he had shown signs of being mildly depressed and suicidal.    
   
"Well, he just didn't have any money and his parents decided to have nothing to do with him because he was getting into so much trouble," said Jeff Finch, Miles' friend. "He was involved in alcohol and I think he was involved in drugs."    
   
Numerous area police departments joined Midlothian police and state troopers during the standoff.  


This guy was shooting at cops indescriminantly during the standoff.  He shot at them when they tried to take a phone to him, he shot at them for just moving.  He's dead, all the cops are going to be ok.  This easily could've been even more tragic.  

This went down about half an hour or so from where I'm working this job. I grew up around here and all I can say is this place has gone to shit.

Quoted: I wonder what the rest of the story is....

Heh-heh..

OK, who's missing from ARFCOM tonight?

Any word on the weapon the perp was using? Sounds like a handgun to me...

Quoted: I wonder what the rest of the story is....

"Richard Miles was shot and killed by police."

Quoted: Quoted: I wonder what the rest of the story is.... "Richard Miles was shot and killed by police."

Sorry, it was a self inflicted wound.  Either way, the correct ending.

Hope the cops all make a swift recovery.

TXL