Watch: Video from shooting when Fort Worth officers killed 2 men shows new details

The first law enforcement officer who opened fire on a suspected gunman in a shooting last week in which officers killed two men did not announce himself until after firing, Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes said at a news conference Tuesday.

At least four other people were wounded at the scene and bullet holes were found in homes. Noakes said police are still investigating how the injured people were shot and have not ruled out the possibility that some of them may have been accidentally shot by the two officers who were shooting at two armed men.

“Officers have to make those decisions oftentimes in a matter of seconds to make sure they do the best they can to preserve lives,” Noakes said about police shooting the two armed men amid a crowd.

Noakes said investigators are not ready to say whether they believe the shooting was justified, and the case will be presented to a Tarrant County grand jury when the investigation is complete. But the department released portions of the body-camera video Tuesday for transparency, he said.

Noakes said at the news conference that the police officer who fired first did so after hearing someone else fire a shot, seeing an injured person on the ground and seeing a man with a gun who looked like he was preparing to shoot someone. The video released Tuesday was from that officer’s perspective.

Noakes said the Fort Worth police officer was working with a fire department arson investigator to enforce fireworks ordinances. They were driving through the area near the intersection of Ross Avenue and Northwest 32nd Street, where there was a crowded block party, on their way to another call.

Police had recently received a 911 call about a fight at that intersection, according to audio released Tuesday. The caller told police there was shouting, screaming and fighting, then told them she heard shots fired.

Noakes said that investigators do not know what started the fight.

The body-camera footage showed the two officers approaching the block party and hearing a shot fired. Noakes said that the Fort Worth police officer saw “an imminent threat to a third party” and fired multiple times at Bill Jaquan Smith. The video did not show the officer giving any commands to Smith before shooting. Noakes said the threat was immediate and the officer may have not had time to identify himself or give commands before taking action.

Smith, 21, died of multiple gunshot wounds at the scene.

“Whenever we have a situation like that, obviously we want to announce who we are when we’re given the opportunity,” Noakes said at the news conference after the video was shown. “What we’re trying to determine here is if the case was such from the information the officer had ... as he’s approaching he hears a gunshot and sees what appears to be a man pointing a gun at someone. The choice there is do I give commands and take the chance of this person shooting and possibly killing someone or do I try to protect the person that’s on the ground.”

Following the officer firing his gun, two other shots not fired by officers were heard in the body-camera footage, Noakes said. The arson investigator and officer both fired at a second man with a pistol in his hand, who fell to the ground before standing up and running west, police said the video shows.

That man, Bronshay Minter, 30, died at John Peter Smith Hospital of multiple gunshot wounds about an hour after he was shot, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Noakes said Minter had a light on his gun that was shining in the direction of officers and the injured person on the ground.

The body-camera footage showed the officer and arson investigator removed a handgun in the hand of Smith and found a handgun on the grass where Minter fell. Two spent shell casings that matched the caliber of Mnter’s pistol were found nearby, Noakes said.

The arson investigator followed Minter, according to Noakes, and found another man bleeding from his leg and provided assistance. The officer found another man sitting on the curb who Noakes said was shot, stabbed and beaten. More police arrived and began securing the scene, where they found at least two other people — a man and a woman — with gunshot wounds.

At least two of the injured went to a hospital. Police believe one of the injured men was shot in the arm, but he left the scene before police could provide aid and investigators have been unable to find him, Noakes said.

Noakes said investigators are still looking at the ballistics of fired rounds found at the scene. Police are unsure whether the only people shot by the officers were the two who he said presented a threat and said that ballistics will shed more light on that.

It is possible that an officer shot one or more of the injured people who were not suspected of being one of the gunmen, Noakes said.

The police officer started by approaching the scene slowly to evaluate the situation, Noakes said. He said the officer did not begin running to the scene until he heard gunshots.

“There was a time where we wouldn’t release any information until the conclusion because there is a lot to look at, but we know now that we need to be transparent,” Noakes said. “We need to share with the community and show what we do have.”

He said no decisions or rulings will be made until the investigation is completed.

Joint operations with the fire department are not uncommon, Noakes said, and added that this incident does not change that. He said police and the fire department’s arson investigators train together regularly.

Noakes said that investigators are still trying to figure out where the first gunshot was fired, but that the officer did not fire the first shots.

Police have not said how many total shots officers fired. They did not publicly identify the officer or arson investigator, but did say the officer has been with the department for about 14 years. The arson investigator worked for more than 11 years as a law enforcement officer with another department before joining the fire department. Fort Worth Fire Chief Jim Davis said the investigator has been with the fire department for six years and has been on the arson team for six months and is a military veteran.

Noakes asked anybody who witnessed the shooting or has video to contact police.

“We are asking for anyone who may have witnessed this, maybe someone who has video on a cell phone or a door camera, to contact us,” Noakes said.

He also asked for the man police believe was shot but who left the scene without identifying himself to contact police.

The shooting occurred early on the morning of July 5 during a neighborhood Fourth of July block party at the intersection of Ross Avenue and Northwest 32nd Street, in northwest Fort Worth.

On Friday, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office released the names of the two men who died.

Minter’s mother, Shantelle Thoene, said in an interview with KXAS-TV last week that she wanted to see the video.

“I want answers. I want to know what happened. I don’t want to hear rumors. I don’t want to hear what people had to say. I want to see a camera. I want to see a video. I want to see what happened,” Thoene said.

Minter, whose nickname was Bam, was a motorcycle stunt rider and tattoo artist who had a 13-year-old son, his family told KXAS. He was the type of person who would try to break up a fight, his mother said.

Noakes said he has not met with the families. “We’re praying for them, for their loss, but also we’re going to conduct a very thorough investigation and we can meet with them and discuss the results of that investigation and answer any questions they may have,” Noakes said at the news conference in response to the families’ previous public comments.

He said that the department released the video “as soon as we can.”

A witness, Anthony Wormley, told KTVT-TV that he and others performed CPR on Minter before paramedics arrived. Wormley also called on police to release the video. He said he did not hear any gunshots or notice any major problems until the officers started shooting and said that Minter was running away when he was shot.

“We were all out here having a nice time for Fourth of July,” Wormley told KXAS. “Towards the end of the night, there was a lot of shooting, from the police actually. The guys that got shot — they were not shooting at each other, they were friends, they were out here popping fireworks.”

Members of Smith’s family also have said they have unanswered questions and they wanted to see the body-camera video.

“They took my son away from me at an early age and no one seems to want to be accountable for it,” Smith’s mother, Cynthia Smith, told WFAA-TV. “That is not how it’s supposed to be.”

Billy Smith’s sister Nicole Johnson said that witnesses didn’t hear the officers identify themselves or issue commands before firing. “They just came into our yard and started blatantly shooting,” Johnson told WFAA.

The officer and arson investigator, assigned to investigate illegal fireworks, were responding to an unrelated call when about 12:30 a.m. they drove through the intersection of Ross Avenue and NW 32nd Street and saw the altercation, Noakes said.

Fort Worth District 2 Councilman Carlos Flores, who represents the area, attended the press conference. “I appreciate the police department and our fire department for coming out here and giving as complete a picture and current status on the investigation,” Flores said. “I continue to ask the community to be patient with the process. We have to respect it to make sure that it is done in a very efficient, consistent way, maintaining integrity because it’s due to the community.”

Flores addressed outcries from the community about a recent spike in gun violence in Fort Worth.

“We’ve already had several meetings. We have community members that represent the community at large. I think it’s very productive. There’s some great ideas coming from this because you’re looking at not just preventative measures, but also after-the-fact measures. If gun violence does occur, like in many major cities across the nation, we want to have a plan and different approaches of how to best approach that so that we can address it,” Flores said.

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