UPDATE: Barricaded Suspect Found Dead In Dallas
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UPDATE: The Dallas County Sheriff's Department says the suspect who barricaded himself is deceased. Initial indications are that it is a self-inflicted wound. This investigation is ongoing and an exact cause of death will be confirmed by the medical examiner after an autopsy is complete.
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Law enforcement officials responded to an apartment complex in Dallas on Thursday morning after reports of gunfire. The incident happened at about 6:30 a.m. at the Sunset Terrace Apartments, located in the 9100 block of Forest Lane, near Greenville Avenue, in the northeastern part of the city.
Authorities stated that U.S. Marshals were attempting to serve an arrest warrant out of Omaha, Nebraska. The Dallas Police Department was assisting in the operation with a SWAT team. But, while officials were at the apartment complex, at least one shot was fired.
There have been no reports of any injuries to officers.
The male suspect was later identified as 32-year-old Robert James Covington.
He was wanted in Nebraska for felony charges of first-degree assault and possession of a weapon with intent to commit assault. Further details about those charges have not been released.
After the gunfire, officers found themselves involved in a standoff with Covington at the complex. The suspect had barricaded himself inside of an apartment unit. Authorities spent more than four hours trying to remove Covington from the building, and the situation has now been resolved.
The Dallas County Sheriff's Office is now handling the shooting investigation. They said that the scene is now safe, but are not explaining exactly how it ended. They will only add that deputies did not fire any shots. The incident may have concluded with the suspect killing himself. More details are expected to be released on Thursday afternoon.
Access to the apartment complex had been limited on Thursday morning, while authorities were at the scene. Deputies told a family living next door to the scene to get onto their balcony for safety, just in case more gunfire followed. The family -- a man and his wife, 5-year-old son and 11-month-old daughter -- huddled outside until a fire ladder could rescue them.
The father feared that his family might be hit by a stray bullet. "Yeah, I was," said Jacquaveious Gibbs. "Because, if I know if I can hear so much going on in that apartment, that I'm pretty sure those bullets are going to fly right through the wall. We were in our bedroom and we didn't know. We was about to start getting low and so, there was just a lot of things going on. But, mainly, just getting the kids situated."
