DPD: Officer Killed Serving Warrant, 3 In Custody

[HK4U]

This happened tonight in Dallas. We need to pray for his family.

Link Removed

Jan 6, 2009 8:37 pm US/Central
DPD: Officer Killed Serving Warrant, 3 In Custody
Dallas Police say an officer in their gang unit was shot and killed Tuesday night.

Officer Norman Smith would have celebrated his 18th anniversary with the department on Wednesday. He had been with the gang unit for about 14 years. At one time, he had been honored as an officer of the year.

Police say Officer Smith was shot while trying to serve an arrest warrant at the Oakwood Place Apartments on the 4900 block of Wadsworth Dr. near Loop 12.

"They knocked on the door and they were met on with gunfire," said Lt. Andy Harvey during a press conference Tuesday night.

The shooting happened around 6:15 p.m. An ambulance took Officer Smith to Baylor Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Fellow Dallas officers and police from other departments gathered at Baylor Hospital as news of the officer's death spread.

Meanwhile, after the shooting police and SWAT officers quickly converged on the apartment complex. Police evacuated apartment units and blocked off roads near the complex.

Video from TXA 21 News crews showed an increasing number of tactical units heading into the complex as negotiations with the barricaded suspect began.

Authorities say 3 males were inside the apartment at the time of the shooting. At around 8 p.m., about two hours after the shooting, all three of those people were taken into custody.

"Norm was doing what he wanted to do," said Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle. "He had the heart of a warrior."

The Dallas Observer profiled Smith's work in Oak Cliff in June of 2006. The article states, "Officer Norm Smith of the Dallas police gang unit was on the street so much, he was given a nickname by the gang members--Soprano. While other officers were sometimes taunted, Smith was respected on the street."

Click here to read the entire article.

Police say Officer Smith was married to Lt. Regina Smith, also with the Dallas Police Department. They had two children together.

Stay with CBS11TV.com for more details on this developing story.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

 

[LiveBlues]

That just sucks. It's a shame that we will never be able to do anything about gang violence.

 

[maybejim]

It's a shame that we will never be able to do anything about gang violence.

It's not a matter of not being able to, but rather not being willing to do anything. Half the gangs are gone by stopping illegal immigration and deporting the illegals and their minor children.

Stop encouraging fatherless families. Bring back orphanages. That would give us a start.

 

[tattedupboy]

I just read about this on the Officer Down Memorial Page right before I saw this thread. What a terrible tragedy.

 

[gpbarth]

Two questions:

1. Why was he standing where he could get hit in front of the door?
2. Why wasn't he wearing a vest? (or was he?)

With all of the shootings that happen during warrant serves, I would think that, by now, everyone would be very careful, especially in high-crime areas (wher this seems to have taken place). I really feel for the officer's family...what a shame - 18 years.

 

[JAMES COBB]

my heart goes out to him and his family and his team members.

 

[Glockster20]

Rest in peace brother.

 

[HK4U]

Two questions:

1. Why was he standing where he could get hit in front of the door?
2. Why wasn't he wearing a vest? (or was he?)

With all of the shootings that happen during warrant serves, I would think that, by now, everyone would be very careful, especially in high-crime areas (wher this seems to have taken place). I really feel for the officer's family...what a shame - 18 years.

Not sure why he was in front of the door. As far as a vest goes if he was wearing one it did not make a difference in this case as the officer was shot in the head.

 

[gpbarth]

Not sure why he was in front of the door. As far as a vest goes if he was wearing one it did not make a difference in this case as the officer was shot in the head.

Case closed.

 

[Glockster20]

This is a terrible loss to the LE community..... I hope the shooter fries!!

Dallas police identify officer shot in face, killed while serving warrant

By Tanya Eiserer, Scott Goldstein
Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas — A veteran Dallas gang-unit officer was shot and killed Tuesday night while trying to make an arrest at an apartment complex in east Oak Cliff.

Senior Cpl. Norman Smith, 43, was with about six other officers serving a felony warrant in the 4900 block of Wadsworth Drive. Smith knocked on the door of an apartment about 6:15 p.m. and came under fire almost immediately, police said.

He was shot in the head and taken to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, where he was declared dead about an hour later.

Three suspects were taken into custody, police said. The men were being questioned and had not been identified.

Police Chief David Kunkle said the officers serving the warrant were attempting a "ruse to try to get the suspects to the door without announcing that they were police officers."

"This was a high-risk situation," Kunkle said. "The officers were tactically well-positioned, but they were immediately met with gunfire."

Smith joined the department in 1991 and would have marked his 18th year on the force today. Smith had an extensive knowledge of Dallas' gangs and was described by Kunkle as one of the department's finest police officers.

"I would have thought he was invincible," Kunkle said Tuesday night, choking back emotion. "He was a great, great street officer. He had the heart of a warrior."

Smith's death was believed to be the nation's first fatal shooting of an officer in the line of duty this year. He is the first Dallas officer shot to death in the line of duty since Mark Nix in 2007.

Lt. Sally Lannom, a former member of the gang unit, described Smith as a hard worker who knew his job well and would be sorely missed.

"It's a huge loss for the department and a huge loss for those of us who knew and loved Norm," Lannom said.

Smith was married to Dallas police Lt. Regina Smith. They met when Norman Smith was working at the Dallas County Jail.

"Norm was working there, and he came up to her and said, 'You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen,' " Kunkle said.

Lannom said Smith was an expert on the gangs in the southern sector, where Tuesday's shooting occurred.

"He worked that area in patrol," she said. "He knew that area. It made sense when he came to the unit to become the expert on the gangs in that part of town."

Kunkle said Smith "could go into the toughest neighborhoods and be respected."

On Tuesday, Smith and about six other gang-unit officers were in search of a violent felon at the Oak Wood Place Apartments, police said.

Smith, flanked by two other officers, approached the door and knocked. Someone inside asked who was there, and Smith responded with a fake name, police officials said.

When the suspected gunman opened the door, Smith yelled that they were the police, according to the preliminary investigation. The suspect then tried to close the door, and Smith pushed back. That's when he was shot.

Officersreturned fire, frantically trying to pull their fallen comrade out of the line of fire as the gunman opened the door and continued shooting. No one else was injured in the gunbattle.

The three men inside the apartment then surrendered, one at a time, within minutes of the shooting.

Hours afterward, a SWAT unit remained at the scene, and police officers roamed the complex on the northeast corner of Wadsworth and Loop 12.

Surrounded by a black wrought-iron gate, the apartment complex has long been known as a haven for drug and gang activity.

In 1998, it was the scene of a gunbattle between police and drug suspects. Someone fired through an apartment wall, hitting Dallas police officer Edward Menchaca in the hip. A second police officer was grazed by a bullet.

The officers were investigating a tip that a drug deal was going on inside the apartment.

Kunkle said Regina Smith, who works in his office, was devastated by the news, just as he was.

"These are just people that I have tremendous love and affection for," he said. "They're all tough, but for me this is a really difficult situation."

Built like a middle linebacker, Smith stood well over 6 feet tall and was known to be even-tempered, opinionated and even sentimental. Lannom said she was introduced to her husband by Smith.

"I still remember Norm standing there all embarrassed, asking me if I wanted to go out with Jon," Lannom recalled. "I owe my husband to Norm."

Lannom said Smith's mother is from Europe, and he spent a portion of his youth there. Before joining the Dallas police, Smith worked as a Kaufman County sheriff's deputy.

The Smiths have two teenage children, a boy and a girl. Those who knew the couple well said they enjoyed antiquing, collecting fine china and traveling in their off-hours.

"They were just magical together," Kunkle said.

 

[gdcleanfun]

... Stop encouraging fatherless families. Bring back orphanages. That would give us a start.

I'm not 100% sure but Roger Kiserjust might disagree with you. His stories of life in an orphanage are heartbreaking. Take a look Link Removed. Orphanages didn't work then, and they don't work now.

 

[gdcleanfun]

... Stop encouraging fatherless families. Bring back orphanages. That would give us a start.

I'm not 100% sure but Roger Kiser just might disagree with you. His stories of life in an orphanage are heartbreaking. Take a look Link Removed. Orphanages didn't work then, and they don't work now.

 

[maybejim]

I don't know about one guys experience but the studies that were done a decade or so again showed better outcomes than we're getting with the "foster" system today.

But that begs the question of the crime and violence that is being brought into this country with the illegals and their offspring who are being born and raised on the taxpayers dime.

 

[toreskha]

Orphanages probably give more consistent results by institution - a particular one may be able to make a majority of its kids into productive adults, while a more shoddily run one may have less success. Foster parenting is pretty much the luck of the draw. Some work out and some don't, and there's no way to tell until it's too late. Kids who live in an orphanage also can come to terms with a clear alternative to living in a normal family, and they see many others around them in a similar circumstance. Foster kids are asked to accept a poor analogue for a standard home life situation, which hardly parallels with what they know other people have.