Armed Man Gunned Down by Police in Dallas Neighborhood

Witnesses report armed man shooting randomly, pointing gun at people

Dallas police shot and killed a man late Thursday night who had randomly fired a gun while walking through a neighborhood and threatening people, police say.

Officers received several reports of an armed man shooting a gun near Great Trinity Forest Way and Wadsworth Drive at about 10:19 p.m.

Officers arrived and confronted the man, later identifed as 33-year-old Rodney Hodge, and ordered him to drop his weapon, police said at a news conference Friday morning.

Police said they tried to talk to Hodge and assured him that they didn't want to hurt him as he paced back and forth along a fence line adjacent to Great Trinity Forest Way. 

Officials said there was no indication Hodge engaged in conversation with them and that he wouold periodically move away from the fence to sit or lay down in the roadway.

After a short time, Hodge began walking westbound on Ledbetter while officers pursued from a short distance while taking cover behind patrol vehicles and ballistic shields, police said.

Hodge continued his walk, turning onto Greencrest Drive where he pointed his gun at a group of people on their front porch, police said.  He continued on foot toward Lantana Drive, where he began walking toward a house before he stopped, turned around and walked directly toward the officers with his gun in his hand.

Officers again ordered Hodge to drop his weapon and, as he approached two pedestrians who sought cover between two parked cars, three officers fired their weapons.

The officers were identified as Sgt. Edward Tena, Sr. Cpl. Joseph Bowling and Dameon Samson.

Tena is a 10 year veteran of the department, Bowling a 12 year veteran and Samson a four year veteran. All three officers involved in the shooting are on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, as is normal in all officer-related shootings. 

No officers were injured in the incident, and no other injuries have been reported with regard to the random gunfire.  Police have also not said how many shots Hodge is believed to have fired.

Shantae Johnson, who identified herself as a member of Hodge's family, told NBC 5 that Hodge had received a phone call earlier in the evening that had changed his mood.

"When he changed, he was just walking up and down the loop. I mean, he said his goodbyes and dropped down to his knees," Johnson said.

Johnson said she doesn't know where he got the gun or why he would do what police say he did.

"He ain't never harmed nobody, flipped out on nobody. He was just a good person, an outgoing person. So this really didn't even have to happen," Johnson said.

Many people in the neighborhood said they knew him.

“He’s been around here forever,” said a friend who didn’t want to be identified. “At the end of the day we lost a good person. But like I say, God don’t make no mistakes, so. He’s going to watch over us.”

Dallas police officers have been involved in 21 fatal shootings in the last two years, five of which have taken place this year.

NBC 5's Ellen Bryan contributed to this report.

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