A man who used landscaping rocks to smash car windows and threaten the mother of his children was shot several times outside Dallas Love Field Airport Friday afternoon after lunging at a police officer, police say. Police added that he is being charged with two counts of assault.
NBC 5 NewsThe incident started as a domestic disturbance outside baggage claim between the woman and man, according to Randall Blakenbaker, assistant police chief of the Dallas Police Department's Special Investigation Unit.
Police identified the man as 29-year-old Shawn Nicholas Diamond, of Edgewood, Maryland.
WARNING: The surveillance video below is graphic and may be disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.
Diamond had left his job in Maryland on Monday and flown to Dallas to visit his ex-girlfriend. He was arrested Tuesday in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton and charged with criminal mischief after destroying city-owned trees valued at $3,700 by driving recklessly, Carrollton police spokeswoman Jolene DeVito said. Diamond was booked into Denton County Jail and released on bond Friday.
Diamond and his ex-girlfriend arrived to Love Field a short time later, surveillance video showed. While the woman is removing bags from the vehicle, Diamond is seen using a traffic cone to smash the back windshield of the car. He then grabs a large rock from nearby landscaping and smashes more of the car's windows.
When an officer intervenes, Diamond lunges at him with a large rock in each hand, police said. That's when the officer fires at Diamond, striking him four times, according to Blakenbaker. The officer then told Diamond to stay down. But, according to Dallas Police Chief David Brown, Diamond got back up, with rocks still in each hand and lunged towards the officer again. The officer responded by firing additional shots at Diamond, Brown said.
"There doesn't appear to be any other weapon present than the rock," Blankenbaker said.
Diamond was conscious when transported to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, where he was in stable condition Friday evening, Brown said. Dallas Police said Diamond is being charged with Assault Family Violence and Aggrevated Assault of a Public Servant.
Blankenbaker said no children were present during the disturbance and the woman wasn't injured.
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Video recorded from witness Bryan Armstrong showed the chaotic scene unfold as travelers screamed and scrambled for cover outside the upper-level baggage claim area.
As many as nine gunshots can be heard in Armstrong's video before a police officer is seen holding a gun on an unseen individual, telling that person to stay down and get back.
The officer who shot Diamond has been removed from patrol duty pending an internal review of the shooting, Brown said. However, "the video is pretty telling," the chief said.
Hundreds of Love Field passengers needed to be screened again Friday afternoon, along with people showing up for their flights, creating a massive line at the checkpoint.
Departing flights were stopped for a time. At least eight inbound flights operated by Southwest Airlines and one by Virgin America were diverted to other airports from El Paso to St. Louis, according to the tracking service flightaware.com.
By late Friday afternoon, nearly 100 flights at Love Field had been delayed.
"There were some folks in the security line who were startled, so they went through the security line without being checked. So the airport has had to pull everybody back out of the secure area and recheck them for security purposes," Blankenbaker said.
Southwest Airlines released the following statement Friday afternoon:
As the investigation into today’s shooting outside Dallas Love Field continues, Southwest confirms all of our Employees and Customers are safe, and that we’re working with local and federal authorities to fully restore our operation at the airport. Vehicular traffic is being routed around the active investigation scene by local police. Customers traveling to and from Dallas Love Field today should consult Southwest.com for the latest information regarding specific flights, and flexibility to change travel plans that involve Dallas today. We’re working with air traffic controllers nationwide to manage inbound air traffic. The airfield remains open and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is working to secure all areas of the building and screen a backlog of people and baggage created by the incident. Flights already bound for Dallas will be able to land, taxi to a gate, and our Customers will be able to deplane into the terminal.
Flights at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport were not impacted, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
NBC 5's Scott Gordon and Frank Heinz contributed to this report.
