A man is dead after being shot early Thursday morning in what police suspect may have been one of a series of aggravated robberies.
During a news conference Thursday afternoon, Dallas police Maj. Jimmy Vaughan said 44-year-old Brent Randall was shot and killed early Thursday while waiting to go to work.
Randall, Vaughan said, was outside his employer's building on the 1800 block of Mockingbird Lane, sitting in the passenger seat of a coworker's parked car as they waiting for the building to be opened.
Randall's coworker told police they became uneasy when they noticed a gray 2012-2014 Chevrolet Malibu approaching them slowly. Feeling like they were in an unsafe situation, the driver tried to leave the area. That's when he said a Latin male sitting in the passenger seat of the Malibu fired into his vehicle, fatally striking Randall.
The driver was not injured and was able to provide a partial description of the vehicle and gunman to police. The witness said the gunman was a Latin man with straight hair who was wearing a red bandana over his face. The witness added the driver of the Malibu was a Latin male who had spiked hair.
The witness told police they had no interaction with the gunman before the shooting; Vaughan said investigators suspect the pair may have planned to rob Randall and his coworker.
"This could have been an aggravated robbery on their part and they could have been frustrated they ended up driving off as they fumbled their approach to the robbery," Vaughan said.
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Vaughan said another aggravated robbery reported earlier in the morning may be related. That robbery took place outside the Anchor Inn on the 10200 block of Harry Hines Boulevard. In that case, the victim's description of the robbers and their car matched the descriptions provided in the Mockingbird Lane shooting.
No injuries were reported in that robbery, Dallas police said Thursday afternoon. Due to the geographic proximity and the matching descriptions, police believe the cases are related
Another shooting and robbery, this one on the 2600 block of Walnut Hill Lane, was also reported Thursday morning. After initially believing it could be related to the other two, police now say it's likely unrelated because the descriptions didn't match up. In that robbery, the victim was shot in the leg and the injury was not considered life threatening.
Anyone with information on the identity of these suspects are asked to call North Texas Crime Stoppers at 1-877-373-TIPS (8477). All tipsters remain anonymous.
