DPD just passed along more details on the sequence of events that led to the fatal shooting of 31-year-old James Harper.
According to DPD's description of events, officer Brian Rowden and two cops were responding to a kidnapping call at 5316 Bourquin. There were four black men inside the house, one of whom grabbed a handgun from the table as they broke through a rear window and took off running.
Rowden caught up with Harper as he attempted to jump a fence, but the suspect kicked him in the chest and continued into the next yard. Rowden continued the pursuit over three two additional fences and wound up in a horse corral, where they fought. After the scuffle, Harper allegedly said Rowden was going to have to kill him, keeping his hand on his pocket. Rowden "overheated and exhausted, and fearing for his life," since he thought Rowden had grabbed the gun from the house, shot and killed Harper.
Inside the home, police found a hand gun, a shotgun, PCP, and crack. The full release follows after jump, along with Rowden's internal affairs resume and a transcript of the 911 call.
The Dallas Police Department is releasing a transcript of the 911 call that precipitated the response yesterday to 5316 Bourquin. The actual audio is not being released at this time due to having potential evidentiary value. A second call came in during the actual struggle between the officer and the suspect. This second call may also have evidentiary value for the Special Investigations Unit during their officer involved shooting investigation so no portion of it can be released at this time. Below is a synopsis of the incident.On July 24, 2012, Officers Brian Rowden, #8477, and Michael Begin, #8574, and Gary Bromley #9613 responded to a kidnapping call at 5316 Bourquin. When the officers arrived they heard noise coming from inside the house. Officer Begin knocked on the side door, and someone inside said come in. When Officer Begin opened the outer door, he was stopped by a metal cage fastened to an interior door. Officer Begin yelled "police", and someone inside slammed the interior door closed. Officers Begin and Rowden went to the side window, and as their view of the interior was obstructed, pushed the air condition unit out of the way and observed four Black male suspects inside the residence as well as a hand gun lying on a table. At that point, the suspects jumped up, one of them grabbed the gun off the table, and they all fled to the rear of the residence. The officers heard glass breaking, ran to the rear of the residence, and observed the four suspects jumping out of the rear window of the residence and attempt to flee the location. Officer Begin took Suspect Arthur Dixon into custody as he attempted to jump a fence behind the residence. The other three suspects continued running. Officer Rowden caught up with Suspect James Harper as he attempted to jump the fence, grabbed his legs and Suspect Harper then kicked Officer Rowden in the chest. Suspect Harper continued over the fence with Officer Rowden in pursuit. Officer Rowden and Suspect Harper jumped a total of three fences and ended in a horse corral at 3803 Mural Lane. Once inside the horse corral Suspect Harper turned and began fighting with Officer Rowden. Officer Rowden and Suspect Harper fought violently, and Officer Rowden lost his handcuffs and sustained injuries to both arms which did not require him to be transported for medical treatment. Suspect Harper made numerous statements to the effect that Officer Rowden was going to have to kill him. Throughout the foot pursuit and fight, Suspect Harper kept his hand on his pocket and as Officer Rowden had seen a handgun lying on a table inside the residence that Suspect Harper had just fled from, he feared Suspect Harper was armed. Suspect Harper and Officer Rowden fought violently two additional times, and by the third violent encounter, Suspect Harper again stated something to the effect that Officer Rowden was going to have to kill him and still had his hand on his pocket as if he had a weapon. By this time Officer Rowden was overheated and exhausted, and fearing for his life, he fired his duty weapon, striking Suspect Harper. Dallas Fire and Rescue responded to the location and pronounced Suspect Harper deceased at the scene.
Suspect Arthur Dixon was transported to CAPERS where he was interrogated and subsequently arrested for two alias tickets out of Dallas and Evading Arrest.
A search warrant was executed at 5316 Bourquin by CAPERS detectives as well as Narcotics detectives. Recovered from the residence was one Ruger P95 9mm hand gun, one Mosburg 12 gauge shot gun, 171 grams of Marijuana, 16.1 grams PCP (38 vials), 30.1 grams Crack Cocaine inside the residence, 19 grams Crack Cocaine outside the residence (on the path the suspects took when fleeing the residence) 24.1 grams Xanex, and 52.1 grams Hydrocodene. Also found were nine cell phones, four digital scales and a partial drug ledger. $437 was recovered from the right front pants pocket of Suspect Harper at the scene.
At this time it is undetermined who made the telephone call that initiated this incident.
