2 killed, 1 hurt in Dallas-area road shootings (Life imitates TV?)

[Are_grits_groceries]

DALLAS (AP) - Authorities pressed a manhunt Tuesday for a gunman in a pickup truck who is suspected of killing two people and injuring another in a series of rush hour shootings on Dallas-area roads.
The suspect was last seen Monday evening heading west on Interstate 635, which loops Dallas and connects to other interstates, said Sgt. Gil Cerda, a Dallas police spokesman.

The shootings happened within minutes of each other. Afterward, rush hour traffic slowed along the highway as police shut down all westbound lanes of 635 east of the shooting scenes for several hours.

"I'm getting shot at! I think I'm shot!" the injured big rig driver said in a radio call to his employer, according to a report by The Dallas Morning News.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D958ERIG0&show_article=1&catnum=1

"Criminal Minds" last episode was about a man who shot people on a freeway.

Doesn't have to be connected, but it's weird.

[Schema Thing]

1. Something about Dallas.

We had a case of this just a few months ago.

And years ago, there was some evil effer driving around on a motorcycle shooting truckers and other people at random. It's just unbelievably cold-blooded.

[emilyg]

2. Same thought I had - watched

Criminal Minds.

[Are_grits_groceries]

3. I like that show.

However, the scarey part is that most if not all the cases are true or an
amalgam of true cases. :scared:

[LanternWaste]

4. I thought the precise same thing this morning...

I thought the precise same thing this morning when I turned the local news on and watched the story re: this (and, also having watched Criminal Minds).

As an aside, it was a weird episode of CM. I was going back and forth between empathy and anger at the shooter. I think the writers wanted me to, and I played right into their grubby little, manipulative hands. lol

[rainbow4321]

5. Why was this guy not helped when he was in Utah?

DMN had a link to a Utah newspaper with the man' history.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11295838

On Jan. 10, according to the documents provided Tuesday by UHP, Smith bought two pints of liquor in Draper and drove his patrol car to a movie theater in Lehi. He drank one of the pints.

Then Smith drove to a park in Herriman and drank from the second pint before driving home. Smith kept drinking while sitting in his car, the documents say. Smith called his LDS bishop and asked him to come over. The bishop arrived and sat in Smith's car as Smith talked about suicide, the documents say. Smith held his handgun to his chin.

When Smith placed the gun on the dashboard, the bishop took it and called 911, the document says. UHP began an internal affairs investigation, during which Smith admitted to the drinking and driving and to stealing prescription drugs from a relative who was a dentist. Smith claimed his drinking and drug use began after an on-duty traffic accident.

Smith resigned from UHP and agreed to surrender his certification as a peace officer.
After his resignation, Smith and his family moved to the Dallas area. Koerner said Smith took a sales job with IBM. Koerner said Smith may have had problems with his new job. "It was really hard to earn commissions and bonuses because of the economy," Koerner said.


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Update:

The suspect died last night.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/122508dnmetmoreshooting.8296563.html


A former Utah Highway patrol trooper suspected in a series of deadly roadside attacks in Dallas and Garland died Christmas Eve as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Brian G. Smith, 37, died Wednesday night at Parkland Memorial Hospital, said nursing supervisor Arthur Clarke.

Family said Mr. Smith was taken off life support Tuesday evening.

Garland police said Mr. Smith shot himself in the head hours after the freeway shootings, when officers, who knew he was wanted on theft and robbery warrants, blocked his sport utility vehicle and wouldn't let him drive away.

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