The Arlington Police Department held a press conference to address the fatal shooting of a suspect during a traffic stop on I-20 last week.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Arlington Police Chief Al Jones announced the release of bodycam footage showing the events that transpired during the February 8 traffic stop involving a seasoned motorcycle officer and the suspect, Sean Daniel McKay. Jones said that McKay was a 49-year-old with a prior conviction for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The unidentified officer moved to pull McKay over after allegedly spotting him driving a Cadillac erratically, crossing several lanes of traffic to stop on the left shoulder near Green Oaks Boulevard. He was reportedly going to help a friend with a flat tire parked near where he had stopped.
However, McKay ended up being fatally shot by the officer for allegedly being armed and failing to follow instructions.
“Unfortunately, he didn’t comply with … anything that we asked him to do that day, so that right there has led us to where we are — an unfortunate outcome,” Jones told reporters.
McKay can be seen reaching for and holding a gun despite being warned by the officer, “I’ll kill you, put the gun down.” However, the gun was never pointed at police, Jones explained. He said it was still a “deadly force situation.”
“There is really not that much room where they could have de-escalated or moved back,” he said, referring to the Arlington police officer and a second officer from the Kennedale Police Department, who stopped to assist him. “They were like three feet away from this guy. We don’t have to wait for someone to point a gun at us before we take action. By that time, it’s too late.”
McKay’s friend with a flat tire, Taylor Royster, witnessed the shooting and felt that the officer could have handled it differently.
“I’m just speechless,” she told Fox 4 KDFW.
Neither the two officers nor McKay’s dog, which was in the backseat of the Cadillac, were injured.
The shooting is currently being investigated by APD’s Homicide Unit and Internal Affairs.
As previously covered by The Dallas Express, Chief Jones announced major breakthroughs in two separate homicides earlier this month. First, a suspect was arrested in the murder of restaurant owner 56-year-old Tho Tieu, and second, three suspects were booked on capital murder for the alleged killing of 52-year-old Frank Kwasnica III.
In Dallas, the homicide rate rose by 15% between 2022 and 2023, with the vast majority of victims being black or Hispanic males, according to data from the City’s crime analytics dashboard. As of February 13, 27 murders had already been clocked in 2024.
Despite the Dallas Police Department’s aims to curb violent crime, it is laboring under a significant staffing shortage. Just 3,000 officers are currently fielded despite a City report recommending around 4,000 to ensure public safety. City officials also only budgeted DPD $654 million this fiscal year, which is far less than the sums spent in other high-crime municipalities, such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
Downtown Dallas, plagued by vagrancy and homelessness, regularly logs far more crime than Fort Worth’s downtown area. The latter is patrolled by a specialized police unit and private security guards.
