A Dallas man was arrested on a murder charge in connection to a fatal shooting on Monday morning in a South Dallas residence he owns.
Damien Walker, 45, is in police custody after apparently shooting a man, Absolom Cobbs, 51, who was living in the home located in the 4700 block of S. Denley Drive.
In an interview with police described in an arrest affidavit, Walker specified that his tenant had allowed Cobbs to stay in the home, according to Fox 4 KDFW.
Believing Cobbs to be selling drugs from the home, Walker went to the home on September 4 to order him “to vacate the residence.”
Walker claimed that Cobbs then grabbed at him, driving him to push Cobbs away and draw a firearm. He shot Cobbs once and then several more times after the man had fallen to the ground.
Surveillance footage from outside the house suggests that eight shots were fired.
Walker maintained that he thought Cobbs was trying to reach for a weapon, although investigators reportedly later found a firearm in a different part of the house.
After leaving the home and joining his girlfriend, waiting for him outside in a car, Walker called 911 and reported the shooting to the authorities.
He explained to the dispatcher that he had shot Cobbs several times and would wait for officers at his home, located roughly 4 miles away on Trojan Street.
Dallas Fire-Rescue responded to the scene, but Cobbs died of his injuries.
Walker is currently being held on a $500,000 bond in Dallas County jail on a murder charge.
Public records indicate that Cobbs had a history of felony and misdemeanor drug-related arrests, though none pertained to distribution, according to Fox 4.
The shooting incident occurred in District 4, which is represented by Council Member Carolyn King Arnold. As previously reported in The Dallas Express earlier this year, the district has seen an uptick in drug-related offenses. As of September 7, the district had seen almost 23% more drug crimes than the year before, according to the Dallas crime analytics dashboard.
Citywide, both drug violations and homicides have risen almost 7% year over year as of September 7. District 4 has seen 24 of the 170 homicides logged by police.
Efforts to fight crime in Dallas have been hampered by a shortage of police officers. A City report previously recommended 4,000 officers to manage crime based on population size, with three officers needed for every 1,000 residents. The City currently employs roughly 3,100 officers.
Rising crime rates are most apparent in Downtown Dallas, where more offenses — especially car thefts and drug violations — are logged compared to the downtown area of Fort Worth. The latter is patrolled by a dedicated police unit and private security officers.