Fired Texas officer who killed boy, 15, indicted for murder
Balch Springs’ Roy Oliver had fired rifle into car of teenagers.
The fired Balch Springs officer who shot and killed 15-year-old Jordan Edwards was indicted Monday on a murder charge by a Dallas County grand jury.
Roy Oliver fired his rifle April 29 into a car of teen- agers leaving a party. Police Chief Jonathan Haber origi- nally said the black Chevrolet Impala was aggressively backing up toward Oliver and officer Tyler Gross. Then, he corrected the information and said the car was driving away at the time Oliver fired. Edwards, who sat in the front passenger seat, was struck in the head.
Oliver also was indicted on four counts of aggravated assault for each of the teens in the car with Edwards.
Oliver’s attorney and Edwards’ family could not be reached immediately for comment.
Oliver was indicted last month on two aggravated assault charges after accu- sations he pulled a gun on two people in an unrelated road rage incident weeks earlier. District Attorney Faith Johnson said then Oliver was a “danger to the commu- nity.” That case was investigated more thoroughly after Edwards’ death. Originally, Dallas police said no crime occurred.
No date has been set for Oliver’s trial. He is free on $700,000 bond.
Oliver and Gross were at the home after a 911 call about reports of drunken teenagers. But they arrived and found no alcohol or drugs in the home. The officers were inside when they and partygoers heard gun- shots. Oliver and Gross ran outside. Oliver went to his patrol car for his rifle and Gross ran toward where he thought the shots came from.
The shots everyone heard while inside the house, investigators later learned, came from the parking lot of a nearby nursing home.
Oliver grabbed his rifle from a patrol car as Edwards, his brothers and two friends got in a car to leave the party. Gross walked up to the car, yelling for them to stop. He broke a window of the car with his gun. The kids drove off.
Oliver, a six-year veteran of the force, shot through a passenger window and killed Edwards.
Edwards was a Mesquite High freshman who had begged his parents for weeks to attend the party. He was there with his two brothers and two friends, who were in the car when Oliver fired into it.
Before becoming a peace officer in 2010 in Dalworthington Gardens near Fort Worth, Oliver had been on active duty with the Army since 2004. He served two tours in Iraq, from October 2004 to September 2005 and from January to November 2009.
He rose to the rank of sergeant and earned commendations, including a medal for good conduct. He also served in the Texas National Guard until 2012.
Oliver worked intermit- tently for Dalworthington Gardens over a span of 12 years. The city said in a prepared statement that he was hired in 1999 to work as a dispatcher, transferred to public works and then moved back to dispatch in 2002.
A man in Thorndale could serve time in jail after officials said he pointed a rifle at a helicopter Sunday evening.
The Williamson County sheriff ’s office said it received a call to assist the Texas Department of Public Safety after a man authorities identified as 39-year-old Clint Noe aimed a rifle at a DPS helicopter as it flew over a home in Thorndale.
Authorities arrested Noe at the scene and booked him into jail on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. If found guilty, Noe could face up to 20 years in jail and a $10,000 fine.
A dog that attacked a 7-year-old boy in Manor on July 3 was euthanized on Friday, according to Manor police.
The dog, a pit bull terrier mix, had been held at the Austin Animal Center on a 10-day rabies quarantine since the attack, but was put down by a veterinarian in Manor after the quaran- tine expired.
Its owner voluntarily surrendered the animal to authorities after it ran out of a residence in the 14400 block of Callan Court and latched onto the boy.
Police spokesman Sgt. Craig Struble said investigators found that the ani- mal had previously bitten another child in 2014 while living in Travis County, and decided that it was in the best interest of the public to humanely put the dog down.
The owner also requested that the dog be euthanized, police said.
A video of the attack showed the animal sprint across a lawn and take the boy to the ground as he tries to run away. The child suffered bite wounds to his back and thigh.
Austin police are asking for help in identifying two suspects who robbed a man outside of a Family Dollar store in Southeast Austin on July 2.
Police said the victim was sitting in his car in the 5300 block of Nuckols Crossing around 9 :25 p. m. wh en two men approached and demanded cash at gunpoint.
Police said the men had just shoplifted several items from the Family Dollar before they approached the man in the parking lot.
After the suspects demanded cash, one of them fired a single shot into the air.
Anyone with information on the robbery is asked to call Austin police’s Robbery Unit tip line at 512-974-5092 or Crime Stoppers at 512-472-8477.
A car chase down MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) ended when the apparently stolen car crashed into an Austin police cruiser Monday morning, with the suspected driver still on the loose.
Austin police received a call shortly after 3 a.m. that a group of people were suspected of breaking into cars, authorities said.
Details remained sketchy early Monday, but officials said the responding officers identified a stolen car they believed the suspects were using and gave chase.
The pursuit ended near the MoPac Boulevard interchange with U.S. 290 when the purportedly stolen car crashed into a Austin police vehicle that was not involved in the chase.
The officer was uninjured, police said. Two of the car’s three occupants were taken to a local hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening and the third person ran off, authorities said.
Travis County sheriff’s office deputies temporarily shut down the westbound lanes of U.S. 290 after a woman drove her car 100 yards off the road and flipped it in a field, authorities said Monday morning.
The crash took place a lit- tle after 6 a.m. in the 16500 block of U.S. 290, between Elgin and Manor.
While the wreck itself didn’t block traffic, author- ities had to shut down the westbound lanes of the high- way temporarily so the STAR Flight medical helicopter could land.
The driver, described by medics as a man in his 30s, was flown to Dell Seton Medical Center with injuries not considered life-threatening.
Medics responded to two unrelated crashes around the sametime Sunday night that sent nine people to the hos- pital, Austin-Travis County EMS said.
Six people, including two children, were taken to the hospital after a two-vehi- cle head-on collision in the 18000 block of Blake Manor Road around 9 p.m. in Northeast Austin, EMS said.
Three adults were taken to Dell Seton Medical Center with potentially serious injuries, EMS said. A fourth had injuries that were not expected to be life-threatening, according to medics. Two girls — a teenager and a younger child — were taken to Dell Children’s Medical Center, also with potentially serious injuries, EMS said.
A second two-vehicle crash occurred almost simultaneously near the intersection of Loyola and Decker lanes. An adult and a teenage girl were taken to Dell Seton Medical Center with potentially serious injuries, EMS said. A third teenage boy had injuries that were not expected to be life-threatening, medics said. He was also taken to the hospital.
For the second time, the owner of a Cedar Park gold coin business is accused of ripping off a customer, according to an arrest affidavit.
Donald McBride, 47, was charged Friday with theft of property against an elderly individual, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Hewas charged with theft in May after police said he took $9,705 from a customer for gold coins that he never provided in October.
McBride is the owner of David Maxwell Gold Advisors, the affidavit said.
In the second case, a 74-year-old man ordered five American Eagle gold coins from McBride on June 27, 2016, the affidavit said. It said the man sent McBride a cashier’s check for $6,600.
McBride deposited the check the same day, according to the affidavit. It said the man sent a certified letter to McBride eight months later on Feb. 22, asking for a full refund because he never received the coins.
McBride told police on March 22 that he received the money from the customer but never provided the coins, the affidavit said.
McBride was released from the Williamson County Jail on Friday after posting bail set at $10,000.