Standoff in Texas Town Ends With Two Dead, One Officer Critically Injured

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas (AP) - A gunman in a van in a Wal-Mart parking lot killed one police officer and critically wounded another Friday, prompting an hours-long standoff that trapped customers in the store for hours before the attacker was found dead. Sgt. Gregory Hunter, 54, was fatally shot Friday morning as he and another officer, Bruce Seix, checked on a blue camper-style van that had been parked all night with its engine running, said police spokesman John Brimmer.

Hunter went to the front of the van and Seix to the side, Brimmer said. The suspect, whose name was not released, shot Hunter at least twice through the front windshield; Seix managed to fire a few rounds before he was wounded.

John Jacobs, the manager of a Payless ShoeSource near the Wal-Mart, heard three pops, then another volley of pops.

"When I heard whistling, I knew rounds were coming in our direction. ... I hit the ground and I called the cops," said Jacobs, who was locked alone in the store during part of the standoff.

Seix, 44, was hospitalized in critical condition after his lung and liver were pierced by bullet fragments, but was "conscious and talking," Brimmer said.

A SWAT team spent the day trying to negotiate with the man, but he never responded. Brimmer said the man apparently used his cell phone at some point to call his girlfriend.

About five hours after the shooting, SWAT officers shot several flash-bang grenades and tear gas into the van.

When officers entered, they found the man dead inside. Brimmer said he appeared to have been wounded by one of the shots fired by Seix.

For about three hours, 150 Wal-Mart shoppers and 60 employees were locked inside the store as a precaution. Customers said they sat in patio chairs and watched developments on televisions in the electronics department before they were escorted out a back door.

A Wal-Mart employee told The Dallas Morning News the original call asking police to investigate came after an employee heard a strange noise from inside the van. Brimmer said the vehicle was reported stolen in New Mexico in February.

Hunter became the Grand Prairie Police Department's first black officer when he was hired in 1973. He left briefly for a security guard job, then returned to the force in 1983. He became a sergeant five years ago, Brimmer said.

Standoff ends with suspect, officer dead
05:50 PM CDT on Friday, June 18, 2004
By JASON TRAHAN and STEPHANIE SANDOVAL / The Dallas Morning News

One Grand Prairie police officer was killed and another injured Friday when a man opened fire on them at a Wal-Mart parking lot.
Police surrounded a blue van in which the suspect was believed to be holed up after the shootings, which happened about 9:10 a.m., and about 3:30 p.m. a SWAT team entered the vehicle and found a man dead inside.
Police said Sgt. Gregory Hunter, 54 and the first black officer hired by the department and a 20-year veteran, was killed after being hit twice by bullets at the scene. Officer Bruce Seix, 44, who was also hit twice, was is in critical condition at Methodist Medical Center, said Kathleen Beathard, spokeswoman for the hospital.
Ms. Beathard said "all indications are" the officer will pull through. He was reportedly conscious and speaking after being transported to the hospital.
Police and law enforcement officials from Grand Prairie. Arlington, Irving, and Mansfield, plus U.S. Marshals, Texas Rangers, and Tarrant and Dallas County sheriff's deputies were at the scene.
The incident began about 9:09 a.m. when Sgt. Hunter arrived at the store, at Great Southwest Parkway and Interstate 20, to check on the blue van that had been reportedly sitting in the parking lot all night with the engine running, police said.
He and Officer Seix were both shot, but Officer Seix was able to return fire, with bullets striking the van and probably the suspect.
"So we're not sure if the person inside was struck or not," said Det. John Brimmer. "We're not sure if the person inside was shot and died or has succumbed to the heat."
Police said a civilian picked up one of the officers' radios and told police that the shooting had occurred.

Gregory Hunter

Sherice Jenkins said she and her daughter were chatting with a friend in front of Wal-Mart when they heard five booms in rapid succession about 9:30 a.m. They immediately knew they were gunshots.
She looked over to the source of the shots and saw an officer with his pistol drawn moving from the side of the blue van to the front, firing into the windshield. She said it appeared that the officer then ran back to the side of his patrol car.
"When we heard the shots, my daughter ran up and grabbed my hand and tried to pull me back into the store," she said. "I was like, wow, someone's hurt or dead."
A Wal-Mart employee said the original call asking police to investigate came after an employee heard strange noise from inside the van.
"I was sitting the car talking to my mother on the cell phone, then all the cops were coming from every direction and surrounded them from every direction and were pulling their guns out," said Lynne White, who sat in her car for about 45 minutes after the standoff began before going into the Wal-Mart.

Bruce Seix

Since noon, officers including a three-man negotiating team had been trying to contact the suspect inside the van, addressing him over a public address system:
"Let us know that you are willing to communicate by honking your horn," an officer said. "We're concerned for your safety. You will not be harmed … We're here with medical attention if you are hurt."
There was never any response. About 2:20 p.m. police set off seven flash bang grenades and inserted tear gas into the van. For hours, they stood at the scene with guns drawn, crouched behind patrol cars and two fire trucks near the blue camper-style van.
At least six patrol cars were at the scene. One patrol car, with three of its doors open and lights flashing, was directly behind the bullet-riddled van.
Wal-Mart officials are trained for lock-down situations such as bomb threats or tornadoes and enacted those procedures after the shooting began, an employee said.
"At first when we were told to go in, I was scared," said Destiny Glover, about age 9. "There wasn't really anyone to play with in there."
She said she felt much better when food was served. Some customers dug into their own groceries, already paid for.
Customers were asked to remain in the back of the store, and several sat around in patio chairs, hanging out and watching the situation outside on TVs in the electronics section.
"A lot of us were gathered around the TV set watching the news," said Destiny's mother, Janet Glover, a probation officer for Dallas County.
About noon, people who had parked their cars beside or behind the Wal-Mart were allowed to begin leaving. Ms. Jenkins' car was parked near the van, so she and her daughter set off to walk home in the sticky heat.
Carl Pool and his wife, Tricia, of Austin were in the area for a golf tournament sponsored by his company, Richmond Oil & Gas. They pulled up in his new black, white and tan RV in the Wal-Mart parking lot about 9 p.m. Thursday.
When his sister met them at the RV to go to dinner, they noticed the blue van had pulled up close to their motor home, about 54 feet away. Mr. Pool said his sister noticed two men around the car.
The Pools slept in their motor home for the first time last night, and Mr. Pool said his wife heard a noise outside about 4 a.m. "I was awakened with a banging on the bus because I thought I was just hearing things and I was kind of groggy," Ms. Pool said.
This morning, her husband went to play golf at 7 a.m. and she again heard someone tampering with the motor home's door. After shouting out, the person went away, Mr. Pool said.
"Something was going on that scared her," Mr. Pool said. "When you're out there by yourself and there's someone out there invading your space you're kinda like, 'What are you doing.'"
When she was leaving at 8:15 a.m. she said the van not there. The Pools were not at the scene when the standoff began.
"We were gone when it happened, thank God," he said. "If they shot two officers, they could have robbed or shot at us."
The only other Grand Prairie police officer to die in the line of duty was Lyndon King. Officer King was killed on March 1, 1982, when a drunken driver swerved across three lanes of traffic on Interstate 30 and crashed into the officer's patrol car. Officer King, who was investigating an accident, died when his car struck him. The Grand Prairie Police Department building is named after Officer King, who was the son of longtime Justice of the Peace Ann King.
During the long standoff Friday, a Buffalo Wild Wings employee gave free water to members of the media and other onlookers. About seven people in street clothes watched the scene from the roof of the Wal-Mart.
Some highway traffic was diverted, with the service road blocked off between Great Southwest Parkway and Carrier Parkway. Interstate 20 was closed between Spur 408 in Dallas and Highway 360 on the Arlington-Grand Prairie line.
WFAA-TV reporter Janet St. James contributed to this report.
E-mail jtrahan@dallasnews.com or ssandoval@dallasnews

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