FIRED SECURITY GUARD KILLS MANAGER
DALLAS TX Feb 28 2018 A fired security guard returned to his employer’s office and shot her to death.
Police were called to a shooting just after 10:15 a.m. at the North End Apartments, in the 2300 block of North Field Street, just north of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.
There they found the apartment manager shot to death. The manager, identified as Nancy Churchwell, 52, was found dead by off duty police officers living in the apartment complex.
Dallas Police said that they quickly identified the suspect, as Marlon Smith, 29, who had been a security guard at the complex before he was fired.
Smith was at the apartment complex on Monday trying to get his job back, but the office manager refused.
The former security guard allegedly returned Tuesday, shot the apartment manager and then took off.
Around 1:00 p.m. police found Smith, he got out of his car and pulled out a handgun.
He got in a gunfight with two Dallas Police officers and a U.S. Marshal in the 2100 block of Hulse Street.
Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall said a bullet struck a Dallas Police cruiser but no officers were hurt.
It’s not clear who shot and killed the Smith, but he was dead at the scene from a gunshot wound.
Chief Hall said Smith has a history of unlawfully carrying a weapon and marijuana possession.
“It doesn’t sit well and it disturbs us as a community as a whole when we hire individuals to protect us and then they turn around and become the individual that puts us in harms way or actually harms us,” Chief Hall said during a news conference Tuesday evening.
Friends of Churchwell and fellow employees sobbed outside the apartment complex, remembering the victim’s professionalism and kindness.
They say she usually had treats out for everyone in the lobby.
“Sometimes you would get cookies,” said resident Curtis King. “She said that’s always the way to invite people. She was an absolutely amazing human being.”
“She was a wonderful person to work with. That’s why we renewed our lease,” said resident Hunter Polvi. “Of all the managers I’ve had, I’ve never worked with anyone who was better at her job than her.”
