An off-duty Dallas police officer shot a suspected shoplifter overnight Tuesday after a struggle where the officer was stabbed in the hand.
The Dallas officer was in uniform working an off-duty security job at the Walmart on 6185 Retail Road when he was told by the store's loss prevention officer at about midnight that a man was shoplifting.
Officer Larry Moody spotted the man, later identified by police as 33-year-old Jonathan Puckett, near the parking area and asked him to come back inside the store.
As they made their way back into the store, Puckett tried to run away. Moody reached out and grabbed him and the two scuffled. As they struggled, the suspected shoplifter pulled out a knife and cut the officer on his hand, police said.
Though he was cut, Dallas police said Moody then ordered Puckett to drop the knife. When the man refused, the officer shot him in the leg.
Puckett, who was arrested and found to be carrying four knives, was transported to Presbyterian Hospital and is said to be in stable condition. He has been charged with aggravated assault on a public servant and has a parole violation out of Kentucky, police said.
Moody was transported to Baylor Medical Center in Dallas and is also in stable condition.
Deputy Chief Gil Garza with the Dallas Police Department said video from inside and outside of the store is being reviewed as the police investigate the shooting.
Police did not say what the suspected shoplifter was believed to have stolen.
