A Dallas man who cut off his ankle monitor and fled the state before he was set to go on trial for murder was arrested in Oklahoma on Thursday.
Tyrese Simmons, 23, was arrested in Tulsa after a standoff with law enforcement.
Simmons was due in court to be put on trial for murder after being indicted for the 2019 killing of a 9-year-old during a shooting in East Dallas, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
“He is facing charges in OK, and once those are taken care of he will be able to sign a document to be able to return to Dallas County or if he refuses extradition Dallas County will file paperwork to have him transferred back to Dallas County to face his charges here,” said Doug Sisk, a spokesman for the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, in an email exchange with The Dallas Express.
Simmons was captured Thursday afternoon at about 3:30 p.m., according to inmate search records for Tulsa County. In addition to the charges Simmons faces in Dallas, he was also charged with resisting arrest.
In August 2019, Simmons, armed with a gun, allegedly went to confront a rival rapper after he became upset about lyrics allegedly used to insult him. He purportedly fired into an apartment unit where he thought his target lived. Instead, he allegedly killed 9-year-old Brandoniya Bennett.
Bennett was reportedly killed while she was sitting on her family’s sofa at home in the Roseland Townhomes. She was shot in the head.
The second suspect in the shooting incident, 19-year-old Davonte Benton, has already been convicted and sentenced for his role in Bennett’s death. Benton is currently serving a 45-year sentence in prison.
Murders have been on the rise in Dallas in recent months as City leaders have been unable to resolve the Dallas Police Department’s serious shortage of police officers. Chief Eddie Garcia recently noted that the department needs roughly 500 additional officers to police the city effectively.
The shortage has been especially felt in Downtown Dallas, which suffers from far more criminality than Downtown Fort Worth, which is regularly patrolled by dedicated law enforcement units and private security guards — a crime suppression strategy currently being implemented in Deep Ellum.
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