Why previous charges against accused Dallas Love Field shooter were dropped or dismissed
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Legal experts say the FBI will not only investigate how Portia Odufuwa obtained the gun she's accused of firing inside the Dallas Love Field terminal, but also, her criminal history.
In April 2019, Wylie police arrested her for trying to rob a bank.
The police report said Odufuwa handed a bank teller a note demanding $10,000 in cash or else she'd blow up the city.
The note said she needed money to bury her father and included a reference to singer Chris Brown.
Police found no gun or bomb.
The report said she told the teller to call police, then walked out of the bank without waiting for money, and she was taken into custody nearby.
Odufuwa was deemed incompetent to stand trial and the Collin County DA's office dismissed a second-degree robbery charge against her May 31 of that year.
Records show weeks earlier, she was committed civilly to a state mental health facility for a short period of time.
Toby Shook, a former Chief of the Felony Trial Division at the Dallas County District Attorney's Office said, "I'm sure the DA's office looked at it carefully, saw that the mental health, mental illness was the primary cause and that not this probably wasn't an intentional criminal act, and chose rather than incarcerate her, to get her in, get her some help by civil commitment."
Late Friday afternoon, Wylie Police released a statement saying, "Based on numerous previous calls for services dealing with Odufuwa and the specific circumstances surrounding this incident, it was believed that Odufuwa was having a mental health crisis and in need of treatment."
Odufuwa was also arrested by Mesquite Police in October, 2019, after she claimed she intentionally set fire to a house.
But the Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said the arson charge was rejected because of a lack of scientific evidence.
Shook said prosecutors are receiving an increasing number of cases where defendants have mental health issues.
The problem he said is there aren't enough state facilities where these defendants can be sent. "The legislature is going to have to just pony up and start spending money on mental health hospitals and programs where we can put these people in."
He and other former prosecutors say this is a challenge they and law enforcement officers have been dealing with for the last 30 to 40 years.
