What to Know
- A uniformed Tarrant County Sheriff's Deputy was shot while working off-duty security at a Fort Worth credit union Monday afternoon.
- The deputy underwent surgery Monday afternoon and was said to be in stable condition with a good prognosis.
- Police confirmed Monday afternoon a suspect had been taken into custody at a separate location.
A man is in custody and facing an attempted capital murder charge after a Tarrant County sheriff's deputy was reportedly shot twice Monday afternoon while working off-duty at an East Fort Worth credit union.
According to the sheriff's department, at about 3:40 p.m. on Monday, a man walked into the Fort Worth Community Credit Union on the 6400 block of Brentwood Stair Road and pulled out a handgun. During the incident, an off-duty deputy working security inside the credit union was shot twice, once in the abdomen and once in the upper chest.
Dispatch reports showed the first call to 911 was received at 3:42 p.m. with a caller reporting an officer had been shot. Fort Worth Chief of Police Neil Noakes said late Monday afternoon that officers arrived about a minute after the first call was received and that's when they learned the injured officer was a Tarrant County sheriff's deputy. The armed robber, the sheriff's office said, ran from the scene after the shooting.
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The injured deputy was given immediate medical treatment and about a half hour after the shooting, an ambulance was seen racing toward John Peter Smith Hospital, escorted by Fort Worth police officers and Tarrant County sheriff's deputies.
Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn confirmed Monday night that the injured deputy was 35-year-old Brent Brown, a 12-year veteran of the sheriff's department who worked in the warrant division.
Brent stood his ground, he did his duty and [the] nobility of what he did today is what law enforcement expects out of all of our officers and he did it well. He rose to that nobility with courage and distinction.
Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn
Brown, Waybourn said, underwent a successful surgery Monday afternoon for serious injuries to his chest and abdomen. The sheriff's office said Tuesday that Brown is in the ICU, is alert, and has a good prognosis.
"I'm absolutely delighted to report that our deputy has successfully gone through surgery and the outlook is good," Waybourn said. "He took two rounds. He took one in his lower abdomen and one in his upper chest. Very serious wounds."
Waybourn said Brown was able to return fire, but doesn't believe he hit the suspect.
"He's young, he's vigorous and he's resilient so we have confidence that he'll do just fine," Waybourn said of the deputy's recovery.
POLICE, DEPUTIES FLOOD TWO LOCATIONS AFTER SHOOTING
In the moments after the shooting, NBC 5 crews saw dozens of police officers and sheriff's deputies outside the credit union and gathering in a nearby neighborhood.
The glass doors to the credit union were shattered and crime scene tape had been stretched across the parking lot. Dozens of officers and deputies were seen photographing the scene and investigating the shooting.
At the same time, less than half a mile from the credit union, a large police presence gathered outside a home on the 1800 block of Lynnwood Hills Drive. It was there that police arrested 35-year-old Leland Earl Williams, a man identified by authorities as the suspect in the shooting.
A man who lives on Lynnwood Hills Drive told NBC 5 that officers knocked on his door and asked him to leave his house for his own safety. The encounter was captured on his home surveillance cameras. The man was able to return to his home once officers cleared the scene.
Noakes confirmed that a suspect was in custody during a media briefing at about 6 p.m., but had little else to share other than that a suspect had been taken into custody at a separate location in Fort Worth.
Williams's name was confirmed by police on Tuesday and officials said he is expected to be charged with attempted capital murder of a peace officer with his bond expected to be set at $100,000. It's unclear if Williams has obtained an attorney to speak on his behalf.
Manny Ramirez, the current Tarrant County Commissioner for Precinct 4 and the former president of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association said on X Tuesday that the bond amount was "absolutely ridiculous" for someone accused of attempting to kill a peace officer and that Williams should be held without bond.
Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells said later in the afternoon that his office was going to ask a judge to raise the bond.
"A magistrate set the bond at $100,000. The Fort Worth Police Department sent the case to us. We filed the charge of attempted capital murder and are requesting that the district judge raise the bond to $500,000," Sorrells said in a news release Tuesday afternoon. "We are going to do everything we can to protect those who protect us. I am going to make sure that, like Officer Brown, we go the extra mile in seeking justice."
That bond was later raised to $1 million by late Tuesday afternoon.
Court records obtained by NBC 5 showed Williams spent 15 days in jail in 2010 for theft of property of less than $500 and in June 2023 spent three days in jail after being accused of taking cash from a woman. At this time, no other criminal record has been confirmed.
Noakes said Monday afternoon that investigators were still working to determine exactly what transpired and where the shooting took place. Officials have not said whether anything was taken from the credit union and no other injuries have been reported.
Noakes said the investigation is in the preliminary stages and more information will be released as confirmed. The FBI was at the scene of the shooting Monday afternoon and may be assisting in the investigation.
Editor's Note: The Tarrant County Sheriff's Office said on Tuesday that the suspect pulled a gun on a teller. They later retracted that statement and said they could not confirm at this time that the gun was pointed at the teller.
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