Police in Duncanville, Texas shot and killed a man after he fired shots inside a building where about 150 children were attending a summer camp on Monday.
According to a statement from the Duncanville Police Department, the suspect entered the Duncanville Fieldhouse on 1700 S. Main Street with a handgun at around 8:43 a.m. and fired shots inside the building, which is hosting a summer camp for children aged four to 14 years old. Officers responded to the incident within two minutes and immediately began a search of the building.
The officers were able to quickly locate the armed suspect and, after an exchange of gunfire, wounded the gunman. Officers immediately began first aid before the suspect was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
No children or staff were injured at the summer camp, which has an average daily attendance of 250 people. The children and staff locked themselves in rooms after the first shots were fired and later evacuated from the building, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
“Due to the clear-headed actions of staff and the quick response time of law enforcement, there were no additional injuries,” the Duncanville Police Department said.
On Tuesday, the police department identified the suspect as 42-year-old Brandon Keith Ned of Dallas.
The shooting incident is still being investigated.
“As is standard protocol with any officer-involved shooting, and in the interest of transparency, the Duncanville Police Department has asked that the Texas Department of Public Safety take over this investigation,” the Duncanville Police Department said. “The results of their findings will be released as soon as they have completed their work.”
The shooting incident in Duncanville came about three weeks after a gunman entered an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas and fatally shot 19 children and two teachers and injured another 18 people.
While Duncanville Police were on the scene within two minutes, the police response in Uvalde has come under scrutiny after the gunman was outside the school firing shots for several minutes before entering the building. The gunman went on to barricade himself inside a pair of connected classrooms. The police in Uvalde went on to treat the situation as a “barricaded subject” and hostage scenario rather than an active shooter scenario, though the gunman continued to fire shots inside the classroom.
The gunman in Uvalde remained in the classroom for around an hour and a half before off-duty Border Patrol officers used a janitor’s master key to unlock a classroom door and find and shoot the suspect. Throughout the lengthy police response, parents outside the building were seen begging police to go in and officers restrained some parents who attempted to enter the building themselves. A mother who ran into the school to save her children said the police “could have saved more” if they had acted faster.
