Five Cedar Hill police officers are on routine administrative leave after opening fire on a man allegedly involved in a shooting at a medical facility.
Officers were dispatched to Methodist Family Health Center – Cedar Hill in the 900 block of East Belt Line Road at 12:17 p.m. on Tuesday in response to a 911 call of a man with a gun. Shortly before the Cedar Hill Police Department (CHPD) arrived on the scene, an emergency dispatcher reported hearing a gunshot, according to NBC 5 DFW.
One responding officer located a man at the facility who was suffering from a gunshot wound. The man, identified as a doctor in the building, was transported to a hospital, where he is in stable condition.
Meanwhile, a second officer observed a man with a long gun flee the scene in a black four-door Chrysler. The suspect crashed the car into another vehicle a block away.
According to Cedar Hill Chief of Police Ely Reyes, five CHPD officers converged on the second scene and eventually discharged their firearms at the man with the gun, who was still in the vehicle. Reyes did not specify whether the suspect had pointed a weapon at police officers, how many times he was shot, or which officers had shot the man, but a witness report confirmed that the suspect instigated the confrontation.
“After a while, he turned and opened fire on them and that’s when they opened fire on him in the car,” Charles Walker told NBC 5.
A media release from CHPD on Wednesday said that immediately following the shooting, CHPD officers removed the suspect from the car and performed lifesaving measures until medics arrived to transport him to Methodist Dallas Medical Center.
Following the shootout, police found multiple guns and ammunition inside the suspect’s vehicle, Fox 4 KDFW reported.
The suspect, later identified as 34-year-old Bryan McGee, was listed in critical condition on Wednesday. The driver of the vehicle the suspect crashed into was also hospitalized with minor injuries.
The day after the incident, police released edited bodycam footage of the police officers firing at McGee.
The officers involved were placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol after an on-duty shooting. As is typical, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department will investigate the use of force while the Cedar Hill Police Department’s Professional Standards Division conducts an administrative investigation.
In nearby Dallas, murders have increased by 10% compared to this time last year, according to police data.
The crime spike could be partly due to the Dallas Police Department’s staffing issues. DPD has around 3,100 sworn officers, far fewer than the estimated 4,000 a City analysis said was necessary to adequately police the area.
Some neighboring communities have dealt with crime increases by utilizing dedicated police units in hotspots such as downtown areas. Deep Ellum has seen success with this strategy, and Fort Worth combines these units with private security guards and enjoys a much lower crime rate than downtown Dallas.
