LF: Dallas Police Chief's Son David Brown Jr. Named in Cop Killing

The son of the Dallas police chief is believed to have fatally shot a man on a Lancaster, Texas, street Sunday evening, then killed a police officer before being shot dead himself in an exchange of gunfire with cops, officials said today.

PHOTO David Brown Jr., the son of the Dallas police chief, has been named a suspect in a deadly shooting that killed one police officer and another civilian

David Brown Jr., the son of the Dallas police chief, has been named a suspect in a deadly shooting that killed one police officer and another civilian. Brown Jr. also died at the scene.

(Courtesy Dallas County Sheriff's Office)

David Brown Jr., 27, the son of Dallas Police Chief David Brown, who just took office in May, was today identified as the alleged shooter in the incident, which broke out at an apartment complex in Lancaster, 15 miles south of Dallas.

Lancaster Police Chief Keith Humphrey said Sunday that Officer Craig Shaw and other police answered a "shooting in progress" call around 6 p.m. There was an exchange of gunfire, he said, and Shaw was killed.

"Officers responded to the apartment complex and started looking for the shooter," Kim Leach, a Dallas County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman told ABC News Dallas affiliate WFAA-TV. "At the time, the suspect turned and shot one of the officers, killing him. Another officer returned fire at the suspect and shot and killed him."

The Sheriff's Office gave a slightly different account today, but confirmed that Brown Jr. was the man believed to be behind the shootings. Few other details were being released, however.

Sheriff Lupe Valdez said at a press conference this afternoon that the shooting began after officers responded to a domestic dispute call.

The police found a dead body, now identified as Jeremy McMillan, 23, Valdez said. When gunfire broke out, Shaw was shot and killed, but Valdez said it is still not clear who began shooting first.

Shaw, 37, was married with a 13-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son when he was killed. He was a five-year veteran of the Lancaster Police Department and the first fatality in the history of the department.

Brown Jr., who has a child, has a criminal record and spent two months in jail after being arrested in 2003 for selling marijuna, according to public records. He pleaded no contest to the charges and received a misdemeanor drug charge.

In a May interview with the Dallas Morning News, Brown Sr. said he was proud of the way his son had handled the situation.

"I'm much more impressed when you make mistakes, how you respond to it," Brown told the paper. "It speaks to the kind of man he is. He continued his education, he's gainfully employed in spite of some of the mistakes that he's made."

Brown Sr. is no stranger to tragedy. In 1988 his longtime police partner was shot to death and in 1991, his younger brother, Kelvin Brown, was killed in the Phoenix area by drug dealers, according to the paper.