DALLAS -- Investigators believe a gunman who was fatally shot by Dallas police aboard an Amtrak train fired no shots during the confrontation that also wounded an undercover officer and an innocent bystander, the city's police chief said Tuesday.
Preliminary findings indicate no gunshots were fired from the handgun brandished Monday afternoon by the suspect, who was identified Tuesday as Stephen Ray Malone Jr., 32, of Waterford, Mich., by Dallas County's medical examiner. Police Chief David Brown said the suspect pointed a gun at officers after refusing to allow them to search his bags, prompting the officers to fire.
One of the officers and a bystander also were shot, though their injuries weren't life-threatening, he said.
"We don't have any indication that he was actually able to pull the trigger and fire," Brown said during a news conference. "But that is preliminary. We need to do further ballistics to confirm that."
Malone has a long criminal history that includes convictions for larceny, fraud and theft, according to Michigan Department of Corrections online records.
His father, Stephen Malone Sr., declined comment when reached by telephone at his home in Waterford, Mich., by The Associated Press.
"I haven't had a chance to look the case over yet," he said, sounding shocked.
Brown said plainclothes narcotics officers were keeping routine surveillance on people coming in and going through downtown Dallas' Union Station, which serves Amtrak and local transit trains. Police said the officers spotted a suspicious man in the lobby, then followed him and a woman onto a Texas Eagle train on its way from San Antonio to Chicago.
The pair went to the upper level of the double-decker railcar and took adjoining seats. Officers approached the pair, displaying their badges, and searched the woman's bags after she consented. When officers turned to the man, he refused to let them search his bags.
"As he expressed that he would not, he reached for a gun that was in his waistband, stepped across his companion's seat and into the aisle, and pointed a weapon at one of the officers. That was within several inches of the officer's face," Brown said.
Another officer they yelled 'Gun!' and drew his weapon, then fired at the suspect. The other two officers also fired, Brown said.
"During this altercation, an innocent bystander sitting across the aisle from where the suspects were received non-life-threatening injuries from a gunshot wound," Brown said.
Sr. Cpl. Samuel Hussey, a 22-year veteran assigned to the Narcotics Division, also was shot and was being treated at Baylor University Medical Center, police said. The bystander's name hasn't been released.
Brown said the train was a safer place to confront the suspect than in the train station lobby.
"We could have had a running gun battle in a lobby with many other people injured. The officers, in my opinion, approached this gentleman in the best way possible," Brown said.
