BY SUSAN SCHROCK
sschrock@star-telegram.com
ARLINGTON -- A police officer responding to a family violence call Tuesday night was found dead in an apartment along with two other people, officials said.
The officer was not identified. Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said he was told the officer was female.
The identity of the other two people was not released. Cop-shooter's status as registered sex offender may have triggered his rage
Duarte Geraldino
The 33 News
Arlington, Texas
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Weeks before Barnes Samuel Nettles killed his ex-girlfriend, Kimberley Carter, Arlington Police Officer Jillian Michelle Smith, and took his own life, police were called to his girlfriend's apartment.
Nettles is a registered sex offender. His ex-girlfriend's parents did not want him dating her. Court recorders show Nettles was so angry about her parents disapproval that in September he ran up stairs to her third-floor apartment to confront her family. Court records show he attempted to choke her mother, "throw her over the railing of the stairs", and "threatened to kill and her husband."
A court date for that incident was drawing closer when on Tuesday night he picked up a gun and killed his ex-girlfriend and the officer.
About 7:30 Tuesday night Officer Jillian Smith went alone to take a domestic violence report. When she got to the third-floor apartment, she found Nettles' girlfriend and her 11 year old daughter. Moments later Police say Nettles came back waving his gun and took aim at the 11-year-old.
"And in doing so the officer moved toward the 11-year-old to protect her," Arlington Police spokesperson Tiara Ellis Richard said. Officer Smith died at the scene. The 11-year-old ran outside, and then police say Nettles killed his girlfriend and shot himself in the head.
NBC 5 said early Wednesday that one of the victims was the ex-wife of the domestic assault suspect.
The station described the officer as a rookie who was sent to the complex to take a report after the ex-wife told dispatchers that the suspect was not at the scene.
About 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, the officer was on a call about a domestic assault at the Arbrook Park apartments in the 4600 block of Nandina Drive, said Tiara Richard, a police spokeswoman.
Shortly afterward, police received a 911 call about a shooting at the complex.
"When they responded, they discovered there were three deceased inside the apartment," Richard said. "One of these was the officer who had responded earlier."
Officers could be seen searching people and cars as they left the complex in the pouring rain late Tuesday.
Police would not say whether the domestic violence suspect was among the dead, but Richard said there was no indication that the suspect was at large Tuesday night.
Richard provided no further details. "We are still investigating to see what occurred," Richard said.
The officer is the second killed in the line of duty in Arlington this year, and the eighth in the department's history.
In January, Arlington officer Craig Story died when his police motorcycle and a school bus collided during a traffic stop on South Cooper Street. The 34-year-old officer's motorcycle caught fire in the crash.
Arlington police Sgt. Dace Clifton said: "Anytime an officer is lost in the line of duty, it's difficult. We do have a strong police family. Police officers know the job they do is dangerous. They come together to support each other in times like this."
Cluck said he learned of the fatal shooting from Police Chief Theron Bowman.
"He said, 'I've got some bad news,'" Cluck said. "An officer has been killed."
"Do you know him?" Cluck asked. "It's not a him. It's a her" was the chief's reply, Cluck said.
"Domestic violence is the most dangerous thing for a police officer to intervene," Cluck said. "Everybody's angry and fighting. I suspect the officer didn't know what she was getting into."
Susan Schrock, 817-390-7639
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