A civilian employee of the Fort Worth Police Department was shot in the eye with a rifle Tuesday afternoon while responding to a burglary report in North Fort Worth, prompting a massive law enforcement response, school lockouts across the neighborhood and a nearly one-hour manhunt that ended with the suspect in custody.
At approximately 11:45 a.m., members of the Fort Worth Police Department’s Civilian Response Unit were dispatched to a report of a burglary in the 3500 block of North Juliet Lane. When the CRU members arrived, a man across the street began firing at them with what appeared to be a rifle, striking one employee in the eye. The unarmed civilian worker radioed for assistance and backup officers responded to the scene. When officers arrived, the suspect opened fire on them as well. Officers returned fire and the man fled the area on foot running westbound.
Fort Worth Police Chief Eddie Garcia said the CRU employee who was shot was speaking and in stable condition. “He was talking, he was moving, and by the grace of God, hopefully with prayers, he’ll be OK,” Garcia said. Garcia visited the employee at the hospital following the shooting. It was not immediately clear whether the suspect was struck by gunfire during the exchange.
Multiple specialized units were called to the scene, including SWAT. Residents of the Summerfields subdivision, located north of Basswood Boulevard and North Riverside Drive, were asked to remain indoors while officers searched for the suspect. North Riverside Elementary School, Fossil Hill Middle School, Vista Ridge Middle School and Basswood Elementary School were placed on a secure lockout beginning around 12:10 p.m. North Riverside Elementary was temporarily placed on a full lockdown for approximately 45 minutes before being returned to secure lockout status at 1:15 p.m.
After approximately one hour of searching, Fort Worth police took a suspect into custody. The suspect’s identity has not been released. No additional details about the nature of the initial burglary or what led the suspect to open fire have been disclosed. The investigation is ongoing.
The Civilian Response Unit was established by the Fort Worth Police Department in 2021 to handle calls that do not require a sworn police officer on scene, including burglary reports, evidence collection and report writing. CRU members are not armed and are not deployed to calls where a suspect is believed to be present or likely to return. It remained unclear Tuesday why a CRU member was assigned to this particular call.