Police release pictures of Uptown Dallas shooting suspect; victim's family hopes killer is caught
DALLAS - Dallas police released surveillance photos of the gunman they want to identify who opened fire in Uptown Dallas Wednesday evening, killing a 46-year-old man.
The suspect is seen carrying what appears to be a shotgun, wearing blue latex gloves, a hoodie and a mask.
Meanwhile, the family of the victim, Roderick Butler, is pleading for answers about his killing.
His mother said she got a call on Wednesday telling her to go to the hospital.
She then got a call from a detective who told her to go to police headquarters.
That's when she found out her son had been murdered.
"My mom will have peace to know that what happened and whoever did it is behind bars," Butler’s brother, Brent Butler Jr., said.
It's a sad day at the Butler family home.
The victim’s mother, Toni Butler, is surrounded by pictures of her three sons.
She's struggling to comes to grips with the murder of her middle child.
"I told the police it felt like I was in a dream, and I need to wake up. He’s gone," she said.
At about 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dallas police said Butler was shot on the sidewalk of a busy plaza located off McKinney Avenue in the Uptown neighborhood.
Man killed in Uptown Dallas shooting identified, suspect on the run
A man was killed in a shooting in busy Uptown Dallas Wednesday afternoon.
Butler died at the hospital.
Dallas PD spokesman Jesse Carr said the unknown suspect ran from the location, through parking lots, towards Maple Avenue.
A motive for the shooting remains unclear.
There are several security cameras in the area, including a bank near where Butler was killed.
"If anybody saw anything, if anybody heard anything, any of that information could play a role in what our detectives are looking at," Carr said. "We would encourage them and ask them to come forward and share that with us."
The victim’s mother said her son was an Army veteran who completed basic training at Fort Hood.
She said he got a medical discharge, and over the years had been homeless, and suffered from mental health issues.
But he recently moved into a Dallas apartment and seemed to be doing better.
She spoke to her son just hours before he was killed, adding that he would often take walks, sometimes to Uptown.
"He would send me text messages saying, ‘You’re the best mom,’ but we talked every day because I knew he was by himself," she recalled.
She doesn't know why anyone would want to hurt her son.
The family is desperate for answers.
"That way he won’t do it to anybody else," the victim’s brother said.
The Butler family is dealing with a lot right now, as the victim’s father recently died after battling an illness.
Anyone with information is asked to call Dallas police.