Police shot a man who was holding a gun over the body of an injured person, mistaking him for the shooter.
DALLAS — Dallas police have released the body camera footage of an incident early Saturday morning that left one man dead and another man shot and injured by police.
According to police, investigators determined two groups of people started fighting on July 5 at about 2:20 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot at 2600 Canton Street. Several shots were fired in the area, and several people were hit.
Police say officers were flagged down by a victim who was shot several times at about 2:25 a.m. in the 100 block of South Good Latimer Expressway. They gave the victim first aid and were told about gunshots coming from south of the area. Several officers then reportedly began searching for the shooter.
Officers running south down Good Latimer Expressway reportedly saw people running from the Canton Street parking lot, police say, which they entered, where they found another victim who had been shot.
Police say they found 21-year-old Kaylen Fritz fatally wounded.
Two officers then reportedly saw 19-year-old Tevin Valentine holding a gun, police say, and standing over Fritz lying on the ground. Officer Luis Garza-Fuantos and another officer verbally commanded Valentine to put the gun down, which can be heard in the footage, but he instead started running and, police say, pointed the gun toward Garza-Fuantos.
Garza-Fuantos then shot at Valentine once, hitting him and causing him to fall to the ground and drop his gun, police say. Officers immediately began giving Valentine medical treatment, officials added. He suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Community activists have questioned why DPD shot Valentine, who they say was distraught over seeing his friend killed.
Watch DPD’s full press conference below
Police recovered multiple guns at the scene. The gun Valentine was holding had been reported stolen out of University Park in 2022, officials said.
Fritz’s mother, Cortisha Lyons, said her son had recently become a father.
“This is my son’s baby. He didn’t get a chance to be a father. He didn’t get a chance to experience fatherhood. He was so excited when he left Friday night. He left. I was excited to let him out,” she said.
Mikie Dean, the mother of another victim, said her son ran for help while bleeding from his wounds.
“He said he ran for help. He said people watched him bleed. His shirt was soaked. He ran trying to get help, and he ran into the arms of police,” Dean said.
No officers were injured. The Dallas Police Special Investigations Unit is investigating the incident, along with the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office. The Office of Community Police Oversight was also briefed.
Garza-Fuantos has been with the Dallas Police Department since April 2020.
The body-camera footage of the incident can be seen here: