On Friday, Arlington Police released the body camera footage from an officer who was involved in a deadly shooting.
"I heard a shot," said Brittany Myers, who works in the area. "I saw a body laying kind of in that little grassy area right there," said Lydia Jenkins, who lives in the area.
It happened Thursday evening near a Walmart parking lot on Cantor and North Collins. The officer was on a call to check the welfare of a woman who appeared to be homeless and passed out. When he approached 30-year-old Margarita Victoria Brooks, her dog ran at the officer. Police said the officer fired three shots. One of them hit Brooks in the chest, killing her.
Facebook/Margarita Brooks"It's a beautiful dog. Friendly," said Myers, who said she regularly saw Brooks and the dog over the year panhandling in the Walmart parking lot. "I don't know what happened between the officer and the dog. The body cam might show something on that."
Police released portions of what Chief Will Johnson called the 'most relevant' parts of the body cam recording.
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"Our hearts are broken for the Brooks family and the police officer involved," said Chief Johnson. "Clearly, this is not the outcome our officer wanted or the department wanted. Ms. Brooks was never the target of force. We know as police officers that we are responsible for our actions."
On Friday afternoon, before the recording was released to the public, Brooks' father went to police headquarters to view it in person. Troy Brooks is a captain with the Arlington Fire Department. He told NBC 5 off-camera that he "needed to know the absolute truth" about what happened to his daughter.
There are two investigations happening, one internal to determine if department policies and training standards were followed, the other criminal to see there is anything to forward to the District Attorney for charging.
"I feel bad. I feel I judged them as panhandlers," said Jenkins. "Even though they might have been asking for money, she needed a deeper help, and now I or no one can help her."
