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Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Dallas Police Kill Shooter-Bomber|After Attack on Headquarters

DALLAS (CN) - A Dallas police sniper Saturday killed the man who riddled police headquarters with bullets and set bombs around it, then shot at police cars as they chased him into a standoff in an armored van.

Police on Saturday refused to confirm that James Lance Boulware, 35, of Mesquite, was the shooter. Police were waiting for confirmation from the Dallas County Medical Examiner.

Boulware, widely reported as the shooter, blamed police for the loss of his son in a custody battle.

Remarkably, no one but Boulware was injured in the early morning melee. Hundreds of bullets riddled the front of the Jack Evans Police Headquarters just after midnight Saturday, particularly the first floor lobby and records counters.

Police headquarters is in a densely populated area south of downtown, near a hotel, apartment complex and office buildings.

The gunman shot at responding police vehicles and appeared to ram at least one of them as he drove away. He led dozens of police vehicles on a chase 12 miles south into a Jack in the Box parking lot in Hutchins, according to Dallas Police Chief David Brown. More gunfire was exchanged during a standoff, but no police were injured.

"I believe we are very blessed officers to have survived this ordeal," Brown said at a news conference Saturday morning.

The gunman identified himself as Boulware and told police on the telephone he was "going to blow us up," Brown said. Police negotiators made contact after Boulware made an angry, ranting phone call to 911 during the standoff.

"The suspect has told our negotiators that we took his child and we accused him of being a terrorist," the chief said.

Police snipers shot into the van's windshield after 5 a.m. It took more than eight hours for police to confirm the gunman's death as robots detonated several areas within and around the van to clear it of explosives.

Four bags were found outside police headquarters shortly after 4 a.m. One bag exploded 30 minutes later when a robot tried to move it, police tweeted. A fifth bag was found later under a police truck.

Two more pipe bombs were found on the van and detonated. Police said "lots of shrapnel" was found in the bombs, including screws and nails.

During intentional detonations of suspected explosives in the van, the vehicle caught fire and more rounds exploded inside, according to police Ma. Max Geron.

Boulware's father, Jim Boulware, of Carrollton, told The Dallas Morning News his son blamed police for losing custody of his son, who is in middle school. He said he saw his son Friday night and there was no sign of trouble.

"He blames the police for taking his son away from him," he said Saturday morning. "I tried to tell him that the police are just doing their job."

Bullets narrowly missed at least two people at police headquarters, and police tweeted an image of bullet holes in one officer's front seat. A person inside the building had left a desk to get a soda before the shooting started and just missed being shot, Brown said.

The Dallas Police Association said by Twitter that Boulware had three family violence cases pending against him and was "very disgruntled against law enforcement and the criminal justice system."

Boulware's son said "we lost him to mental health long before we lost him to death," according to Jeannine Hammon, Boulware's mother.

Hammond said the family is "still in shock" and "glad nobody else was hurt."

"I can tell you now that James wasn't all bad," she told reporters Saturday. "He gave $6,000 to the victims of the Japanese tsunami and gave a car he had to a struggling young couple so they could get back on their feet. He would help others when he could, before his mental state deteriorated to the point it was today."

Hammond said the family tried to get him "mental help numerous times" but the system failed him because he was declared sane.

"He was very delusional. It was very obvious," she said. "We hope something good can come from this, and that people will reach out to hurting souls around them and unite to build up others, rather than tearing them down. We hope that people with mental illness will receive the care they need to avoid situations like this in the future. We apologize to the police for his behavior."

Follow @davejourno
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