Gov. Greg Abbott calls for investigation into ankle monitors after Dallas Methodist shooting
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The Dallas police chief vented his frustration that the gunman charged with murdering two Methodist Dallas employees was allowed able to be inside the hospital. The violent prison parolee was twice arrested for parole violations with the most recent one in June.
DALLAS - Texas governor Greg Abbott is asking the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to take a closer look at killings committed by parolees on ankle monitors in Dallas.
Abbott directed the Board of Pardons and Paroles and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to investigate any "lapses" in the release and parole supervision of Nestor Hernandez, who shot and killed social worker Jacqueline Pokuaa and nurse Katie Annette Flowers while he was wearing an ankle monitor during a shooting at Dallas Methodist hospital that killed two healthcare workers this on Oct. 22.
READ MORE: Suspect charged with murdering 2 nurses at Dallas hospital has a long criminal history
Hernandez was out on parole for an aggravated assault in 2015 and given special permission from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to go to the hospital to be with his girlfriend for the birth of her baby.
Abbott also called for a similar investigation into a murder allegedly committed by Zeric Jackson in November.
Jackson is accused of killing a man in an apartment on Audelia Road. He was convicted of a deadly aggravated robbery in 2005 and was wearing an ankle monitor when he was arrested by police.
The governor called for the leaders of the BPP and TDCJ to prepare any legislative or administrative recommendations to him by January 4.
Dallas police chief Eddie Garcia has been critical of using ankle monitors on violent criminals.
"I’m at a pause when we think that putting an ankle monitor on a violent criminal is some form of accountability, because ankle monitors on violent criminals are useless," Garcia said following the shooting at Dallas Methodist.
Garcia called the killing a "failure of our criminal justice system."
Governor Abbott echoed a similar sentiment in his letter to the BPP and TDCJ saying, ""In neither case were ankle monitors an effective deterrent to the heinous crimes they committed. Although nothing can be done to bring back these victims, Texas must protect Texas residents from similar acts."