Police: Man shot by Fort Worth officer after ‘reaching for a gun in his waistband’

FORT WORTH, Texas — A man was shot by Fort Worth police Saturday morning after a 911 caller told the department’s communications team that the man told them “you are under arrest” and that he was “going to pull the trigger.”

Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes told media in a press conference Saturday morning that North Division officers responded to the intersection of Park Vista Boulevard and Keller Haslet Road and tried to make contact with the man, but he did not respond and walked away. 

Noakes said officers saw a handgun in the waistband of the man’s pants, continued to walk him into 13000 block of Park Vista Blvd. and one officer deployed her taser on him to take him into custody. The taser was ineffective, according to Noakes. 

Chief Noakes said the man then reached for the gun in his waistband, and fearing he was going to shoot, another officer “fired at least one shot,” striking the man in his abdomen.

Officers provided medical aid to the man and he was taken to the hospital, where he is in stable condition, according to Noakes.

The weapon that the officers saw was recovered from the scene by police, Noakes said.

Noakes said the officers who initially responded to this call were not part of the department’s Crisis Intervention Team – who have additional training in mental health care and have a mental health professional who rides with them on calls – but were patrol officers who “came and worked hard to de-escalate the situation themselves.” 

The Crisis Intervention Team did respond to the scene later on, Noakes said.

The scene is near a children’s care facility, which was another concern for the officers who responded, according to Noakes. There were no children or staff at the facility during the shooting, Noakes said.