A federal case has been filed against a Farmers Branch police officer who was charged with murder in the deadly shooting of 35-year-old Juan Moreno Jr.
Officer Michael Dunn surrendered to police in Seagoville in June 2019 after being indicted by a Dallas County grand jury.
The shooting occurred on June 12, 2019 at a shopping center in Northwest Dallas.
According to police, Farmers Branch officers confronted Moreno behind the wheel of a pickup truck that was reported to be stolen.
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Police said when officers approached the truck, Moreno began to pull out from a parking spot and drive toward Dunn.
Dunn then allegedly opened fire on the truck, shattering the windshield and fatally wounding Moreno, police said.
Moreno was taken to Parkland Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
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According to police the other two people in the truck were uninjured, and one officer sustained a minor injury.
The Dallas Police Department led the investigation because the shooting was just inside Dallas city limits. A special investigations unit ultimately handed the case to a grand jury.
The criminal case for Moreno's murder is still pending in Dallas County. The next criminal court date on the murder indictment is set for July 12, 2021, but the case has been passed repeatedly since January 2021.
The federal civil case was filed on June 11 in the Dallas Division of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas by Moreno's family.
According to the indictment, the plaintiffs claim the defendant, Dunn, killed Moreno as he drove a truck through a parking lot without posing any danger to anyone.
Moreno's family alleged that Dunn used excessive deadly force and violated Moreno's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizures.
