The incident began as a chase through Central Texas and ended on I-35W in Fort Worth, where officers shot and killed the suspect.
FORT WORTH, Texas — The Fort Worth Police Department has released surveillance video showing a hostage situation that left a suspect and victim dead Sunday night.
The department released the radio broadcast and video footage, as well as Police Chief Neil Knox’s description of the incident.
Fort Worth police said this week that they were called around 7:23 p.m. Sunday to assist the Troy, Texas, Police Department with a pursuit that was northbound on Interstate 35.
At the time of the incident, police said they were told the vehicle in question had an armed passenger and a driver who was said to be a hostage.
“The subject is armed with a handgun. The subject also has a passenger in the vehicle. The male threatened to shoot the passenger,” said a radio broadcast released Wednesday.
The vehicle being chased eventually crashed on I-35W near Spur 280, police said.
Noakes said officers at the scene ordered the occupants out of the vehicle but could not see inside because of debris from the crash, deployed airbags and other items in the rear window.
“He looks like he’s got a gun to someone’s neck. The driver is a woman, and it looks like he put a gun to her neck,” Air One reported over the radio.
According to Noakes, the suspect did not allow the victim to exit the vehicle. The chief said there was some sort of altercation between the suspect and the victim, and then officers heard a gunshot from inside.
Noakes said officers formed a rescue team and approached the vehicle. Officers found the victim was now lying on top of the suspect in the driver’s seat and that he was using the victim as a “human shield,” Noakes said.
Officers could be heard on the camera recording giving the suspect multiple commands to drop the weapon. The footage shows the suspect holding a gun to the victim’s stomach area.
The officer could be heard yelling “don’t do that,” “get your hand off the gun” and “drop the gun” several times.
Shouting commands, the two officers eventually fired their weapons at the suspect, wounding him. Gunshots were heard in the video, but police did not show the shooting.
In a video call Wednesday, Noakes said officers feared the suspect would shoot the victim again.
The officer transported the victim to the hospital due to traffic congestion, which made it difficult for medical assistance to arrive at the scene.
The victim died at the hospital and the suspect died at the scene, Noakes said.
The Tarrant County medical examiner on Tuesday identified the suspect as 38-year-old J’Quinton D. Hopson and the victim as 31-year-old Shaylon J. Hila.
In another take on the incident, Noakes said one officer’s body camera showed the suspect’s gun’s slide was jammed and “that there was no magazine in the magazine.”
Noakes clarified that body cameras shoot from an officer’s chest and from a smaller vantage point than what the officer actually sees.
“Our officers were faced with a hostage situation where a man was holding a gun against a woman he had already shot,” Noakes said.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to everyone involved in and affected by this tragic incident,” the chief added.
Noakes said the investigation and evidence will be turned over to the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office and a grand jury for review.
WFAA requested the full, unedited body camera video, but Fort Worth police said they would not release the full footage.
