Dallas Police released several videos Tuesday afternoon in the investigation into a fatal shootout between police officers and a wanted man.
Just after midnight Sunday morning, covert officers with the Dallas Police reported seeing a stolen silver Cadillac SUV with paper tags near Barnes Ridge Road and El Capitan and called for uniformed officers to make a traffic stop.
Chief of Police Eddie Garcia said Tuesday that officers had tried to pull over the same SUV two days before, on Sept. 22, though it had a different paper tag on it at the time. In that instance, the driver refused to pull over and officers did not pursue.
When uniformed officers got close to the driver early Sunday, police said he was ordered to stop as he walked down a sidewalk and show his hands and instead, he pulled a gun out of a shoulder holster. Garcia identified the man Tuesday afternoon as 55-year-old Michael Shirley.
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Garcia said Dallas Police Officer Vela fired at Shirley and that he returned fire as he ran back to the SUV. Garcia said Vela and Shirley continued to fire in each other's direction and that a covert officer also fired before Shirley got into the SUV and sped away.
After cutting through an apartment complex, Garcia said Shirley lost control of the SUV and flipped it over a curb.
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Two officers who witnessed the crash, Pease and Reniger, approached the vehicle wearing heavy vests and carrying rifles. As they approached, police said Shirley shot at the officers and they returned fire, wounding him.
Garcia said they flew a drone over the crashed SUV and spotted Shirley on the ground with a gun next to him in the grass. Officers approached with shields and placed Shirley into custody. The officers administered first aid until Dallas Fire-Rescue arrived, but Shirley died at the scene.
From the drone, Dallas Police spotted a woman in the crashed SUV who was not hurt when it rolled over. Garcia said she told police she got into the vehicle willingly but that as they drove around Shirley pulled her into the second row and handcuffed her to her seat belt.
Garcia said none of the officers were injured in the gunfire but that damage to one of the police vehicles included bullet holes in the driver-side window and fender.
Shirley, according to Garcia, had a violent, extensive criminal history that included indecency with a child, unlawful carrying of a weapon, discharge of a firearm, theft, and he had active warrants for failure to ID, prohibited weapons and failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements. Garcia said the SUV had been stolen during an aggravated robbery in Garland.
The chief highlighted the bravery of his officers who got back into their vehicles and pursued a man who he said had just tried to kill them.
"This is never the outcome we want, but yet again I stand in front of you talking about the dangers my men and women face as they serve to protect this city. No call is routine. This should have been a traffic stop, instead a violent criminal, a predator I might add, chose to fire on my brave men and women not once but twice," Garcia said.
The shooting was the tenth police shooting involving Dallas police officers in 2023 and the eighth time this year officers were targeted by gunfire.
