Washita County, OK — Sentinel police chief, Louis Ross was shot Thursday morning while going into the home of a person suspected of calling in a bomb threat.
In a bizarre and questionable situation Ross was attempting to enter the home of Dallas Horton after Horton allegedly called 9-1-1, claiming he was going to detonate a bomb at a nearby school.
Sentinel Mayor, Sam Dlugonsky, said Ross and Washita County Sheriff’s deputies traced the call to Horton’s home.
According to KOCO news, the mayor said police went to the suspect’s home and cleared one room of the house. Dlugonsky said as police were working to clear the second bedroom, shots were fired.
Ross was wearing a borrowed bullet proof vest when the man inside the residence shot the police chief four times, striking him three times in the chest and once in the arm. He was taken to the hospital and was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released.
A Washita County deputy loaned the vest to the chief just before they entered the suspect’s home. The vest saved Ross’ life.
According to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, after the suspect fired off the rounds, he surrendered to officers.
The story becomes strange after Horton, who lives in the house with his wife Esther Marie, were both taken into custody.
Agents with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said the man who shot the chief was released after hours of questioning when they determined they didn’t have enough evidence to arrest him.
OSBI wrote in a news release:
Facts surrounding the case lead agents to believe the man was unaware it was officers who made entry.
OSBI also released the following statement on their facebook page:
The man who shot and wounded the Sentinel police chief will not be arrested at this time. The man was taken into investigative detention this morning after the shooting. For the past several hours, OSBI investigators have extensively interviewed the man. Facts surrounding the case lead agents to believe the man was unaware it was officers who made entry.
OSBI spokeswoman Jessica Brown said she did not know whether the man would be arrested in connection with the bomb threat.
“We don’t have probable cause to make an arrest at this moment,” she said Thursday afternoon.
Horton was described by the mayor as a “gun enthusiast” and “survivalist.” Several media outlets were reporting that Horton “posted statements on social media recently about the terrorist group ISIS.”
Apparently none of those outlets decided to actually verify those statements however, as a simple search for Horton’s facebook page revealed the statements to be anti-ISIS.
An image posted to Horton’s facebook page shows that this man stood by his gun enthusiasm.
The fact that Horton was released means that police didn’t have sufficient evidence to paint him as the one who made the bomb threat, as Oklahoma law clearly states that it is a felony offense to make such threats.
Oklahoma law clearly states that anyone who makes a bomb threat can face significant prison terms as outlined in 21 O.S. 1767.1:
Any person who shall willfully or maliciously commit any of the following acts shall be deemed guilty of a felony:
Make any threat or convey information known to be false, concerning an attempt or alleged attempt to kill, injure or intimidate any person or unlawfully damage any real or personal property by means of an explosive, incendiary device, or simulated bomb;
So what exactly happened Thursday at the residence of Dallas Horton which allowed him to be released after allegedly committing a felony and then shooting a cop?
Could it be that Horton was wrongfully raided and simply acted in self-defense?
