‘Dallas has lost a hero’: Police officer killed, 2 wounded in Oak Cliff shooting

A Dallas police officer was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting Thursday night in southeast Oak Cliff, multiple police officials told The Dallas Morning News.
Darron Burks, 46, was fatally wounded in the gunfire, his mother, Cherie Jeffrey, told The News when reached by phone Friday morning. Jeffrey said she was notified by officers at her home. Burks was a former school teacher who’d just completed police training.
More than 20 units responded about 10:10 p.m. to an assist officer call in the 900 block of East Ledbetter Drive, near South Marsalis Avenue, according to an online police call log.
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Dallas police spokeswoman Kristin Lowman said responding officers found an officer who’d been shot in his marked patrol vehicle. Officers exchanged gunfire with a suspect, and two other officers were shot, Lowman said.
In an interview with The News, Dallas Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Adam Bazaldua said he was told surveillance video showed Officer Burks was killed while in his patrol car and had no interaction with the shooter beforehand. He said it appeared to be a “completely senseless act.”
“You hear often of officers’ families who say goodbye before they head to their shift not knowing if it’ll be for the last time and here’s an example of exactly that,” Bazaldua said. “He was just doing his job protecting our city.”
The suspect drove away and was pursued by Dallas police officers to Lewisville, where the suspect exited a vehicle with a long gun, Lowman said. Dallas officers fired, killing him.
Police officials searched an empty white Buick that appeared to have shattered back windows and a flat back tire. Dozens of police vehicles lined the closed-off highway. A body lay under a sheet in the street.
The officers were taken to hospitals, where Burks died, another officer was in critical condition and the other was listed as stable, Lowman said.
The names of the officers involved and the suspect were not immediately released.
In a post on X early Friday, Dallas police Chief Eddie García said “No words.” He attached a photo of a Dallas police badge above the city of Dallas with a dark blue line across the center.
No words. @DallasPD pic.twitter.com/OvlRKJp2d4
“Our department is hurting,” Lowman said. “We ask tonight and this morning for the thoughts and prayers of our city, for not only those who are recovering in the hospital, but for our fallen, for their family and for their loved ones, and for us as a department as well.”
Flags at all city facilities will be flown at half-staff, according to a statement from Dallas police.
About 1:15 a.m., dozens of Dallas police officers stood quietly outside the emergency room entrance to Methodist Hospital. They stood in two parallel lines, with the honor guard closest to the entrance, and waited. Police squad cars lined the blocks leading up to the hospital, their emergency lights flashing.
A Dallas police vehicle drove to the hospital minutes later, and officers helped escort an older woman out of the car. The officers surrounding the vehicle straightened, then saluted as the woman exited the vehicle and slowly walked inside the hospital with a group.
The two lines of officers broke after she went inside. One officer wrapped one of his arms around a colleague and held her against his shoulder, staring out at the street. Others came by and also hugged the officer, who appeared to wipe away tears.
A patrol car was parked in front of the department’s south central station Friday morning. On its hood lay one bouquet of white roses and another of white lilies.
“Dallas has lost a hero,” Mayor Eric Johnson wrote in a statement Friday. “This attack on three of our protectors is nothing short of an attack on our city, our families, and our way of life. We must continue their work to stop violence in our communities. We must never forget their sacrifice.”
Burks attended Paul Quinn College and pledged Omega Psi Phi. He worked at Texans Can Academies before joining the force, according to Apryl Washington Goree, a former coworker at the charter school.
“He loved helping kids, but he wanted to help the community versus just the classroom,” Washington Goree said. “He wanted to help on a broader spectrum.”
“I want to express my deepest condolences and full support to the family of our fallen Dallas Police Officer,” Dallas Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert wrote in a statement Friday. “We cannot take for granted how precious life is and how courageous our first responders are to selflessly take the oath to protect and to serve.”
A candlelight vigil is planned to honor Burks at For Oak Cliff at 6:30 p.m. Friday, according to a Facebook post, and will continue at Winners Smokehouse in Cedar Hill.
From the parking lot of For Oak Cliff Friday morning, Dallas City Council member Carolyn King Arnold told The News she was “devastated” by the news of the shooting.
The center was quiet and its parking lot vacant as of 9 a.m. Friday, roughly an hour after three police vehicles — one marred by at least two bullet holes — were towed down East Ledbetter Drive. Another bullet punctured the community center near the front entrance, just below a sign listing its business and recreation hours.
“Really no words can describe an officer being murdered like this,” she said. “It just leaves you speechless.”
Arnold said the community center serves as a “beacon of hope” and a peaceful place for the community to gather — not a “magnet for crime.”
“It is a magnet for the youth to come and find alternatives to gun violence,” Arnold said. “It’s used to change this narrative that all of Oak Cliff is lost, all for someone to misuse this sacred space.”