OFFICER SHOT IN SUSPECTED MURDERSUICIDE

When police responded to a 911 call at the Lake Highlands Landing apartments on Feb. 7, they found two dead bodies and a 6-year-old child, who was alive and physically uninjured.

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The deceased included the apartment’s resident Dallas Police officer Larry Tuttle and Otto Machelle Thomas, a 42-year old woman who police say called 911 twice after she shot Tuttle and before killing herself.

Early that evening, Thomas reported that she had just shot and killed her “boyfriend,” whom she identified as Tuttle. “He was getting ready to hit me again and I just went off,” Thomas told the dispatcher during the initial 911 conversation.

As Northeast police patrol officers surrounded the apartment, Thomas shot herself, assistant chief Randy Blankenbaker says.

During a second 911 call, patrol officers can be heard instructing the woman, from outside the apartment, to put the gun down, he says. After officers heard a shot, Dallas SWAT was called to the scene, where, one room away from the carnage, they found the child hiding in a bedroom. She was transported to a hospital for an examination and then to Child Protective Services. The incident is still under investigation, Blankenbaker says. —Christina Hughes Babb

12th Annual 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament benefiting Lake Highlands area schools

For Girls and Boys in grades 1-8

Everyone is invited to come watch the competition and enjoy entertainment.

Saturday, March 28th Highland Oaks Church of Christ 10805 Walnut Hill

$84 per team, 4 players per team online at hoopsinthehighlands.net

On-time registration closes March 13. Late registration with fee of $100 is open until March 18.