Fort Worth Police released new information Monday in the investigation into the shooting of Tarrant County Deputy Brent Brown, who was shot twice last week while working off-duty inside the East Fort Worth Credit Union.
Fort Worth Chief of Police Neil Noakes and Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn gave an update on the deputy's condition and shared the latest in the investigation into the apparent robbery and shooting.
Noakes said the man told tellers he was there to open an account and several times walked away from the counter and returned to the counter, "as if he was trying to get his courage together."
Video from inside the credit union released by the department Monday showed the man in the lobby suddenly spinning around and lunging toward the teller counter. The man then appeared to immediately fire several shots toward a deputy behind the teller counter.
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Noakes said Brown was seriously wounded when he got up and fired 12 shots at the man as he ran out of the bank, shattering the glass in the credit union's entryway.
"Due to Deputy Brown’s quick response, Williams was not able to fire his weapon toward the bank employee and instead ran away on foot," police said in a statement.
Brown had been shot twice, once in the abdomen and once in the upper chest. The injured deputy was given immediate medical treatment and was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital. Waybourn said Brown underwent a successful surgery for serious injuries to his chest and abdomen and, as of Monday, continues recovering in the hospital.
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Waybourn said he hoped Brown could be discharged by the end of the week and expected that his recovery would take weeks and months.
No other injuries were reported from the exchange of gunfire.
Noakes said Williams declined to speak with detectives so they haven't heard first-hand what his motivation was inside the bank. He said he didn't like to speculate on intent, but believed that Williams was there to rob the bank and didn't expect the deputy to shoot back.
"Just looking at the video, looking at what actually happened we can speculate, which I don't normally like to do," Noakes said. "All I can come up with was that he was there to rob the bank, he saw the deputy as a threat, wanted to take him out first and then rob the bank. Little did he know he had a deputy that wasn't going to go down so easily."
The armed man, later identified as Leland Earl Williams, ran from the scene after the shooting, police said. He was later arrested and charged with attempted capital murder of a peace officer. Williams is currently being held on a $1 million bond. It's not clear if he's obtained an attorney to speak on his behalf.
Brown is a 12-year veteran of the sheriff's department and works in the warrant division.
