A man who allegedly threatened to shoot up a church in Fort Worth was arrested by police on Saturday morning.
The man, later identified as 35-year-old Demarcus A. Hollie, was arrested for terroristic threat and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, both of which are third-degree felonies. He is being held at Tarrant County Jail with a bond set at $35,000.
The Homeland Security Department of the Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD) learned on Thursday that a man had threatened to shoot up a church his intended victim would be attending on Sunday, according to an FWPD press release.
The church he threatened was later identified as First Pilgrim Valley Baptist Church, located on the east side of Fort Worth on Miller Avenue.
“Due to the immediate perceived threat to the victim and the attendees at the place of worship, multiple units and agencies immediately began to write a warrant to locate and apprehend the suspect,” police said in the release.
The FWPD Gang Unit later located Hollie at an apartment complex in Crowley. A resident of the apartment complied with the officers and informed them that Hollie was inside.
Hollie was subsequently arrested. Officers discovered a firearm belonging to Hollie during a search of the apartment.
“Due to the quick action of the victim and officers, this incident potentially saved numerous lives,” police said.
FWPD officer Jimmy Pollozani told The Dallas Express on Tuesday afternoon that there were no updates related to the incident.
Meanwhile, in nearby Dallas, criminal activity has been rampant, with murders up about 23% year over year as of May 1. More recent statistics are deemed “unreliable” by the City due to an alleged ransomware attack on its servers, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Fort Worth has a specialized police unit and private security guards dedicated to protecting residents and visitors in higher-crime areas such as downtown, but Dallas does not.
Furthermore, the Dallas Police Department is roughly 900 officers short of the recommended 4,000 sworn personnel, per a 2015 City document that advised the department to have three officers for every 1,000 residents.
“Because of [the shortage], that customer service that we have long given to the city of Dallas … we just can’t do anymore,” Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata told the Dallas Observer. “And I think we’re actually hurting our relationship with the community more than helping it by not changing to doing something different.”
