Firefighter, civilian shot in Dallas; suspect found dead
DALLAS — The man who allegedly opened fire on paramedics in East Dallas late Monday morning was found dead in a home Dallas Police searched after the shooting, authorities said.
Another man was found dead inside the same home, police said. Additional information was not immediately available on that person.
The injured firefighter underwent surgery at Baylor University Medical Center and was in critical but stable condition. The civilian who was shot was also in intensive care, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said.
Dallas Police Sgt. Robert Watson pulled the wounded paramedic into his squad care and rushed him to the hospital, police said.
The alleged gunman was 36-year-old Derick Lamont Brown, WFAA-TV’s Charlotte Huffman has learned.
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Brown was found dead inside a home in the Dolphin Heights neighborhood, hours after the shooting.
Rawlings described the shooter as “someone that was not mentally stable.”
Brown was chairman of the New Black Panther Party in Dallas in the early 2000s, according to The Dallas Morning News.
The suspected gunman told The News in 2005 that he wanted to empower residents to stand up to the police and fight back as a last resort.
Court records show Brown also has a long criminal history, including an assault charge, several DWIs and gun offenses.
In 2008, he was involved in a car accident in Dallas, records show. Responding Dallas PD officers approached his vehicle. He yelled, “I’m high … I’m high and I have a gun.”
Police arrested him for felony possession of PCP. Brown pleaded and got two years’ probation.
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Then, about two years ago, Brown obtained a concealed carry license in Florida.
In 2015, he was involved in another car accident in Dallas. This time, when officers approached the vehicle, they observed Brown “holding a loaded magazine in his (right) hand” and “a 9-millimeter semi-automatic handgun” in his left hand, according to records.
In that incident, officers smelled what they thought was PCP. They arrested Brown for being under the influence of a narcotic and for unlawful carry of a weapon by a license holder.
Brown went to jail and was released just two months ago.
WFAA talked to family members and learned Brown is the father of 18 children and worked as a janitor at Parkland Hospital.
On Monday, paramedics from Dallas Fire-Rescue Station 19 were called to the 3200 block of Reynolds Avenue for a dispute between neighbors. When the first officers arrived, the suspect approached and opened fire.
An ambulance was struck by gunfire as well, the city confirmed.
Officers returned fire and the suspect ran into the home where he was later found dead. Police used a robot to locate the dead bodies inside the home.
Monday's shooting came nearly 10 months after a gunman ambushed Dallas police officers killing a Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer and four Dallas Police Department officers, and injuring nine. The suspect, Micah Johnson, was killed by a bomb robot after the July 2016 shooting.
Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow WFAA-TV on Twitter: @wfaachannel8