Two police officers returned fire on a gunman who threatened to kill them inside a home in Garland Thursday afternoon, police say.
Police officials told NBC 5 that officers were called after 1 p.m. to a home on the 600 block of Echo Drive. The caller told dispatch that her in-home monitoring system had been activated but no one was supposed to be there.
When officers arrived to investigate they found a back door open with a man inside the home.
Officers learned the man, identified Thursday night as 43-year-old Matthew Waldrop, had an active protective order against the woman who lived there and had been ordered to stay away, police said.
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When asked by officers why he was there, Waldrop "became increasingly agitated and threatened to kill the officers," the release said.
"The male was not complying. He was very combative. He was not doing what the officers were asking him to do, which was basically, 'hey come out and talk to us'," explained Lt. Richard Maldonado with the Garland Police Department.
Despite efforts by officers to de-escalate the situation, Waldrop got out a gun and shot multiple times at the officers, prompting two of them to return fire, hitting him, police said.
Waldrop was taken by paramedics to a nearby hospital and is expected to recover from his wounds.
No one else was hurt.
Waldrop faces two counts of aggravated assault against a public servant and a charge of violating a protective order. Police said Waldrop had been arrested earlier this year, also for violating a protective order. It's not yet clear if Waldrop is represented by an attorney.
The two officers who shot their guns are on administrative leave according to department policy. Garland police detectives and the Dallas County District Attorney's Office Public Integrity Unit were taking part in the ongoing investigation.
The home is in the Coomer Creek neighborhood near the intersection of the PGBT and Texas 78. Neighbors told NBC 5 that the shooting was very shocking to hear in their normally quiet neighborhood.
