• Font Size    
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Family Says Dallas Police Shooting Was Excessive

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)



The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +   

Family Says Dallas Police Shooting Was Excessive

DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ― A Dallas police officer is on administrative leave, after shooting and killing a suspect.



A Dallas family and some witnesses in a southeast Dallas neighborhood have a lot of questions for officials at Dallas police headquarters. Family members say they don't believe an officers claim that he was, 'defending his life.'



A father is mourning and a grandmother is left in tears after the officer involved shooting death of 20-year-old Jaques Howard.



"They shot at him ten times, and five of the bullets hit him," explained Howard's brother, Eric Johnson. "[Police should] have tazed him or something. You have to unload a whole clip?"



Shortly after midnight Friday morning, two officers in a patrol unit stopped a red Mercury Grand Marquis, at Bonnie View and Highland Hills Roads, because it had no front license plate.



"According to the officers testimony is that, the suspect was pointing a gun at him," Dallas Police Sgt. Gil Cerda told CBS 11 News. "At that point the officer responded by shooting toward the suspect."



Police say Howard, who was the passenger in the car, bailed out and ran to jump a nearby fence. During the process officers noticed he had a gun. One officer opened fire -10 rounds were spent. Howard later died from his injuries at Baylor Hospital.



"He should have just handcuffed him and taken him down," says Howard's grandmother, Narleen Johnson.

The family of Jaques Howard says the young man should never have been shot. "He was not, not at all supposed to have been killed the way he was," says Howard's aunt, Rosalind Johnson.



Witnesses, who didn't want CBS 11 News to identify them, say the number of shots fired was excessive. "He was on top of the gate when they started shooting," one person said. Johnson stated plainly, "That's like cold blooded murder."



Police say they don't know why Howard ran, because he had no significant criminal history and no outstanding warrants or fines.



The officer who shot Howard is on a routine paid administrative leave, while the shooting investigation continues.



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

You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.