MENARD, Texas — Police suspect a former Summitville man killed himself rather than face going back to prison after exchanging gunfire with Texas authorities on Wednesday.
Tom Vingar, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Dustin M. Walker, 23, shot himself in the head after exchanging shots with a Texas state trooper and members of the Menard County Sheriff’s Department near Menard, Texas, shortly after 11 a.m.
Vinger said Walker was driving in central Texas with his 16-year-old girlfriend in the car when he refused to pull over for a speeding violation. The teen girl is a runaway from Anderson. Her name was not released.
Vinger said the high speed pursuit continued until about three miles south of Menard, when Walker drove over stop sticks placed in the roadway by sheriff’s deputies. Walker crashed the Pontiac he was driving, and then began firing on officers, Vinger said.
The public safety spokesman said Walker was wounded at least once before shooting himself once in the head with a semi-automatic handgun. Vinger said it wasn’t immediately known how many times Walker fired. It also wasn’t clear how many shots were fired by authorities.
Vinger said no officers were wounded. The teen girl was also not injured. The shooting happened in a rural area, and there was no danger to the general public. Menard is about 100 miles north of San Antonio in central Texas.
“I think the only danger was to the girl and the officers,” Vinger said.
The spokesman also could not provide a motive for Walker taking his own life. The incident remains under investigation by the Texas Rangers, Vinger said.
Walker’s hometown is listed as Swayzee, Ind., on his driver’s license, Vinger said. Court records indicate that he previously lived in Summitville.
Anderson police Sgt. William Casey, department spokesman, said the girl’s family reported her as a runaway on March 22. Casey said the girl’s mother is reportedly en route to Texas to retrieve the teen. He said she will not face criminal juvenile charges.
Other than a desperate fear of returning to incarceration, Casey also could not provide a reason for Walker’s apparent suicide.
“He said he wasn’t going back to prison and that’s all we know,” he said.
Walker, then a Summitville resident, was sentenced to eight years in prison in September 2004 for felony intimidation. He was released in November, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.
Summitville police arrested Walker in March 2004 after he allegedly pulled a knife on a man in the 100 block of North Main Street. Walker claimed the man turned him into police during a burglary investigation.
Walker also had misdemeanor convictions for criminal mischief, battery and disorderly conduct.
Contact Shawn McGrath: 640-4883, shawn.mcgrath@heraldbulletin.com
Cops, courts and fires
Madison County man dead after shoot-out
Man turned gun on self after firing on authorities
- Cops, courts and fires
-
-
Arrest Log: May 28
Arrests made by Madison County law enforcement on Saturday, based on Madison County Jail records. Charges are recommended by arresting officers, but are not final until the Madison County prosecutor reviews the case and files official charges.
- Conservation officers arrest Anderson boater on alcohol charge
-
Anderson man dies at Monroe Reservoir; 3 others arrested
Memorial Day weekend took a tragic turn Saturday evening as an Anderson man visiting Monroe Reservoir died. Three other Anderson men were arrested later that day following the death of Matthew Hosier, 29.
-
Handicapped murder convict alleges prison discrimination
Since October 2006, Donald Lock has been confined to a wheel chair because of a degenerative bone disease. He has spent time at correctional facilities throughout the state, but it wasn’t until he was transferred to Pendleton earlier this year that he said he felt his disability was ignored.
-
Woman considering lawsuit over police actions during arrest
An Anderson woman said police crossed the line when they shot her with a stun gun, and then pepper sprayed her during an arrest in February.
-
Arrest log: May 26
Arrests made by Madison County law enforcement on Thursday and Friday, based on Madison County Jail records.
-
Arrest log: May 25
Arrests made by Madison County law enforcement on Wednesday and Thursday, based on Madison County Jail records.
-
Boxes outside Aldi catch fire
A small fire outside the Aldi grocery store in Anderson caused an evacuation of shoppers and employees.
-
Arrest Log: May 24
Arrests made by Madison County law enforcement on Tuesday and Wednesday, based on Madison County Jail records. Charges are recommended by arresting officers, but are not final until the Madison County prosecutor reviews the case and files official charges.
-
Indianapolis woman whose fetus died in suicide try freed
A Chinese immigrant who tried to kill herself by eating rat poison was free on bond Tuesday after more than a year in an Indianapolis jail on charges that she killed her 33-week-old fetus.
- More Cops, courts and fires Headlines
-
Arrest Log: May 28
