Dallas police release body camera video of officers shooting man who refused to drop gun

DALLAS - Dallas police released body camera video of officers shooting a man they say refused to drop his gun.

"These are the dangers our officers face every day," said Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia in a statement Monday. "Unfortunately, we are out in front, again, talking about an officer-involved shooting with regards to an individual shooting it in front of my officers."

Early Saturday morning, DPD responded to a call for a man shooting a gun on Robert B. Cullum Boulevard near Scyene Road, just south of Fair Park.

Police said they received a second call saying the same person had shot out the window of a vehicle at a business in the area.

Police say three officers arrived at the scene at 3:20 a.m. and saw a man, who was later identified as 53-year-old Chris Green, with a gun.

In the body camera video you can hear officers ask to suspect to drop his gun multiple times while Green yells incoherently.

At 3:21 a.m., he fired a single shot in the air. Police say after he shot he tucked the gun under his arm and began walking away. In the video you can hear him tell officers that they would get shot as well.

He then walked toward an occupied vehicle at a stoplight.

The officers then fired. Hitting Green in the lower body. He continued to fight officers as they attempted to put him in handcuffs and render first aid.

The suspect was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

A gun near Green was recovered from the scene.

Green will be charged with deadly conduct, criminal mischief, possession of meth and discharging a firearm in certain municipalities.

"Gun violence, it's the biggest issue in American law enforcement right now," said Chief Garcia. "There's a lot of firearms in circulation in the country. There's a lot of individuals that have no business having access to them."  

Garcia said that the country cannot say it takes gun crimes seriously when people who commit violent crimes with firearms that are released shortly after an arrest.

"Is there sensible things that we can be doing for gun reform? Yes, absolutely," Garcia said. "But the other side of it too is the accountability piece that plays a large role also."

It is DPD's fourth officer-involved shooting of the year.