Gun Control Debate Plays Out in North Texas

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Supporters on both sides of the emotional debate on gun control are making their case at North Texas demonstrations.

On Friday, the group Organizing for Action went to the Dallas office of Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz to ask him to support President Barack Obama's proposals.

"He can either stand with the parents who've lost children, the parents of Newtown, (Conn.), the parents all across America who've lost children, or he can stand with the gun lobby," group leader Marsha Fishman said.

About two dozen people attended the demonstration, including parents of victims.

Elizabeth Soltero said her 22-year-old daughter was killed in California in 2000 by a woman who was given guns by someone else.

"We couldn't do anything about the man who gave her the guns, because all he had to do is say, 'I didn't know she was going to kill somebody,'" Soltero said.

Among other things, the group wants gun owners to be held responsible for the use of their firearms and to expand background checks for purchases at gun shows.

"We don't feel that universal background checks infringes on anybody's rights," Fishman said.

On Saturday, 500 people are expected at a Dallas rally opposing new limits on guns.

Organizer Jonathan Osborn said the Day of Resistance is one of 90 similar rallies scheduled around the country on Saturday.

"We don't want our Second Amendment further regulated or infringed on in any way," he said.

Osborn said investing more money in enforcing existing laws would be a better way to remove guns from the hands of criminals than adding new laws.

"It's not going to take out the criminal element or even the violent, mentally ill element," he said. It's only going to further hinder the normal citizens' -- the law-abiding citizens' -- ability to defend themselves and harm them," he said.

The demonstration is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Dallas Flag Pole Hill on Northwest Highway.

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Know Your Rights Before Buying Pets at a Pet Store

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There is little to no recourse for consumers in Texas if they buy a dog or cat a pet store that they later discover is sick or has a congenital defect.

Sophie Clingenpeel learned this the hard way.  She initially went into PetOrama in Mansfield to buy a kitten.  Instead she left with a little brown puppy she named Enzo.  She said it was love at first sight, but just days after bringing Enzo home Clingenpeel said he became deathly ill with a contagious disease that attacks a dog's intestinal tract called parvovirus.

Days later, Clingenpeel said Enzo was so sick a nurse at the veterinary emergency clinic asked if they could administer CPR on Enzo if it became necessary.

"If we had not bought him, he would not have made it," Clingenpeel said.

NBC 5 Investigates Consumer Unit first introduced you to PetOrama when we broke the story about consumers who said they bought sick dogs from the store, two of which had to be put to sleep. 

Since that story aired, a new manager is now running PetOrama and expects to purchase the store in the next six months. The city's police chief told NBC 5 the store has been inspected and is compliant with city code, although animal control continues its investigation.

PetOrama's prior manager did not respond to NBC 5's questions about Enzo, but in previous conversations she said she insisted she took good care of her animals and her dogs checked by a veterinarian.

But based on that original story, NBC 5 wanted to find out what rights consumers have in these cases.

"There are no regulations of pet stores of any shape, form or fashion at the state level," said Skip Trimble, a board member with the Texas Humane Legislation Network, a group that advocates for animal rights.

Without statewide rules and regulations, protection is left largely to city ordinances.

Police to Investigate Store Accused of Selling Puppies with Parvo

Mansfield Chief of Police Gary L. Fowler is opening an investigation into a local pet store after the NBC 5 Investigates Consumer Unit was alerted to claims by several families that they purchased puppies that were sick with parvovirus.

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No city in North Texas goes as far as Austin, which banned the sale of cats and dogs at pet stores.  In Mansfield, the home of PetOrama, animal control can impose fines on pet stores if they don't keep their animals healthy. In Fort Worth, animal control can inspect pet stores if it has concerns or gets complaints and pet stores are required to provide vet care to suffering animals. Plano mandates pet stores keep animals healthy and isolate sick animals.

That's why it's important for consumers to complain to the appropriate city department if a problem arises.

While about 20 states have puppy lemon laws to give consumers some protection if they buy a sick animal, there is no such law in Texas.  It's a law animal advocates would like to see adopted and one that may be supported by the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, a trade group representing the pet industry under certain circumstances.

"Lemon laws can be a good thing," said Mike Canning, the President and CEO of the PIJAC.  But Canning said PIJAC would only support a law like that if there was a good balance between consumer and pet store rights.  If not, his group would lobby against the legislation.

"Responsible members of the pet industry stand behind their products," Canning said.  He also said that in cases of parvovirus, pet store owners should work with consumers to resolve complaints.

Other than complaining to the right city department, another option consumers have is to sue pet stores.

"The only recourse they have right now in Texas is the deceptive trade practice act," he said.

It's been done.  Pet owners have reached settlements with pet stores. But suing is expensive.  So Trimble said making local lawmakers aware of problems is imperative.

"There's nothing more important and a better way to get a bill passed then for victims to come forward and tell their lawmakers what happened to them and to let them know that they need their help," Trimble said.

That's why Clingenpeel is speaking out. She said she'd like to see more regulations to protect both owner and pet. 

With the absence of laws, it's up to consumers to do their due diligence.  Experts offer this advice:

• Ask a pet store if you can visit a breeder's facility to see a puppies parents face to face.  
• Ask about guarantees.
• See if you can have the puppy checked out by an independent veterinarian before you buy.

Clingenpeel said she alone is footing the vet bill for little Enzo, the $250 puppy that Clingenpeel said now cost nearly 20 times that amount.  But she said he is worth it.

"I had to save him," she said.

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Van Alstyne Mayor's Construction Worker Remarks Slammed

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The mayor of Van Alstyne is under fire for her remarks during a City Council meeting about the ethnicity of construction workers in her neighborhood.

Mayor Kim DeMasters made the comments during a discussion about construction noise in the Georgetown Heights subdivision at the council's Feb. 12 meeting.

The property was stagnant for years after a developer went bankrupt, but D.R. Horton purchased 102 lots and started building homes in the area.

DeMasters, who lives in the subdivision, said she has heard complaints about workers making noise as late as 10 p.m.

"Construction workers that are in our neighborhood after dark are not the most desirable people that we want in our neighborhood, before dark or after dark," she said "The majority of them do not speak English. The majority of them play their music -- hasn't affected me, but they play their music decibels that are beyond what we should all have to deal with, and they can't understand when we tell them they have to turn it down."

When others at the meeting objected to her statements, DeMasters told them she was just stating "the facts."

Councilman Jim Smith said such words from an elected official during a city meeting send the wrong message to an ethnically diverse community.

"It's not appropriate under any circumstances for an elected official to make that kind of a racist statement about somebody that's trying to help our community grow," he said.

Smith has called for the mayor's resignation.

Workers at the construction site do mostly speak Spanish as their first language but told NBC 5 and Telemundo that they were offended by the mayor's remarks, saying they work hard to build homes for the community.

Smith said the noise controversy wouldn't exist if Van Alstyne had an ordinance that restricts times for construction.

Many cities designate sunup to sundown hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Smith said workers told him when he questioned why they were building so late that they were simply taking advantage of the fact there was no ordinance in place to stop it. They told him they build late so they can work longer, earn more and finish homes sooner.

He said that each home, when occupied, should earn the community up to $3,000 annually in tax revenue, which is good for the community.

DeMasters was not available for an interview Thursday but released a statement apologizing.

"I apologize for sounding as if a particular group was being singled out," she said. "We welcome everyone who wants to live and work here. The council members that prompted this are trying to create a distraction, while I am trying to solve a real problem -- construction noise keeping kids up on school nights."

DeMasters, whose term expires in May, has not indicated if she will step down or if she will run for re-election.

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Fired Dallas 911 Call-Taker's Appeal Denied

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An appeals board has upheld the termination of a Dallas 911 call-taker who was fired for her handling of a call from a woman who asked for a welfare check on her daughter before breaking into her home and finding her dead.

The mother of Deanna Cook called 911 on Aug. 19 and asked that an officer go by her daughter's home because she had not been heard from in days.

The call-taker, Angelia Herod-Graham, told Vickie Cook to call hospitals and jails first.

"I was trained to ask that you have people contact jails and hospitals," she said.

The family forced their way into Deanna Cook's home and found her body. Police say Cook's former husband had killed her two days earlier -- a day she had called 911 for help.

The operator who took that call was suspended and later resigned.

On Thursday, a civil service board heard Herod-Graham's appeal of her termination.

The 911 call was played during the hearing.

Vickie Cook: We are not in the house. We are trying to get in the house to see if everything is OK.
Herod-Graham: What I have to do is, ma'am, police can't kick the door in, but ambulance can kick the door in, so are you ready for the fire department, since you want to do a welfare check, is that correct?
Cook: We, we got it in. We in.

Moments later, screams can be heard as Cook finds her daughter.

Herod-Graham insisted that she had followed her training.

"I was trained by the city of Dallas on how to do my job, and I did what I was trained to do," she said.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown testified at the hearing that he decided to fire Herod-Graham because a reasonable person would have sent officers.

During the hearing, Herod-Graham agreed that it took six minutes to finally dispatch police.

Brown said he worked and was assigned to a 911 call center in the early 1990s. He was not Herod-Graham's boss.

At the time of her firing, Dallas police said Herod-Graham had previously mishandled two other calls. The department said then that she was disciplined for failure to report a 911 call regarding a police officer being assaulted and for disconnecting a caller from 911 while she was attempting to report a man with a gun outside her home.

Herod-Graham said after the hearing that she was a scapegoat.

"But like I said, God has something better for me, and I bless everyone, even Chief Brown," she said. "I'm not mad at him, because my God has something bigger and better for me."

She told reporters that she is looking for another job.

Deanna Cook's death drew national attention after her family found her dead two days after she called 911 to report that her former husband was attacking her.

The police officers sent to her house left after looking in the windows when no one answered the door.

Tonyita Hopkins, the call-taker that answered the call, was suspended and later resigned. Police said she did not enter critical information into the call sheet.

Kimberly Cole, a manager at the call center, and Lt. Ronald Thomasson were also disciplined in the matter.

Cook's family filed a federal lawsuit against the city over the 911 call she made the day she died. An attorney for the family said the responding officers stopped at a burglary alarm and at a 7-Eleven before arriving at Cook's home. Once they arrived, they did not put much effort into entering the home, he said.

More than a month earlier, Dallas' 911 call center was criticized after callers reported that they were unable to reach a call-taker while a house fire raged on July 4.

Dallas police said in late August that they had created a new classification for call-takers and dispatchers to use when relaying reports to officers in the field. The class is for calls involving serious bodily injury or death and is listed as the highest priority.

NBC 5's Ray Villeda and Omar Villafranca contributed to this report.

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Red Light Cameras Make Millions

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In the city the Dallas Cowboys call home, some red light cameras write checks as big as an NFL salary.

One camera at northbound Cooper and Pioneer Parkway in Arlington dished out $2.5 million in red light tickets in just four years.

In the City of Fort Worth, records show cameras have generated $23 million.  The top money maker is on the West Freeway Frontage Road at Ashland Avenue, bringing in $1.7 million since 2008.

Red light cameras were installed to save lives to prevent dangerous crashes and to catch people who are breaking the law, and there's evidence cameras work.

A Texas Transportation Institute study found a 26 percent decrease in red light crashes at intersections after cameras were installed. 

But some e-mails obtained by NBC5 Investigates raise questions about whether some city officials are more interested in reducing crashes, or collecting millions of dollars to fill gaps in city budgets.

Through an open records request, NBC 5 Investigates obtained a Dallas City Hall e-mail string talking about red light camera revenue.

In one email, a city staffer said someone in the City Manager's office "needs an explanation of why the following items are reporting low on revenue and what will be done to address the issue."

The list includes parking fines and red light cameras.

Another staffer writes back explaining, "Red Light Cameras are projected to be under-budget due to a decline in the number of violations per site."

An Assistant City Manager replies, "…who is picking the red light sites and what department are they in?"

"I think it's really dangerous when city officials from any city begin to tell us that we have a certain quota or certain expectation of how much money red light cameras are going to produce," said University of Texas at Arlington Criminology Professor, Alex del Carmen

Del Carmen said there's a danger that a noble, lifesaving program could become driven more by a need to boost city budgets than by the safety goals cameras were intended to achieve.

"They were never meant to produce a dollar figure that at some point it would be an expectation," del Carmen said.

Despite the emails, the City of Dallas insists camera locations are chosen only on the basis of crash statistics and other safety concerns.

Raul Magdaleno, who heads the City of Dallas commission that helps decide where to put red light cameras, admits the city does move cameras sometimes if the number of tickets decreases at an intersection.

But Magdaleno said decisions on where to put cameras are based on which intersections have the greatest safety need, not on any dollar amount target.

"No that is never discussed. The target is never discussed in any of the commission," said Magdaleno.  "As a commission, that is not -- we do not take that into consideration."

In Texas, state law said cities can only spend red light ticket money on traffic safety programs.

In Fort Worth, the city uses their portion of the money to make roads safer.

"Intersection improvements, traffic signals, school sidewalks and pavement markings," said Randy Burkett, Fort Worth traffic engineer.

In Arlington it pays for a police DWI program.

Arlington and Fort Worth told us they'd find other ways to pay for those things if tickets dropped and the money dried up.

"If we have fewer accidents, I don't think anyone is going to quibble with that and we'll consider it a success," said Rebecca Rodriguez, spokesperson for the City of Arlington.

And, in Dallas, where a camera at Lovers Lane and Central Expressway wrote 30,000 tickets in four years, the city said the program will stay focused on the mission of changing driver behavior to save lives.

"Try talking to a mom who's just lost her kid because somebody passed a red light because they were texting and passed a red light -- to them this is not about revenue," said Magdaleno.

But as the cameras flash and the money rolls in, cities are getting used to a giant pot of extra cash.

"I do expect to see more and more of these cameras to appear on your way to work and my way to work on a daily basis," said del Carmen.

Under Texas law, cities are also required to split red light camera money they collect with the state. 

That money is supposed to fund regional trauma centers.  But the state comptroller's office tells NBC 5 Investigates $64 million is just sitting in that fund.  The legislature has not given it to the hospitals yet.

In a statement, State Sen. John Carona, told NBC 5 Investigates, "We told the taxpayers this money would go to a specific purpose, and we need to live up to that."

Locations of the top money making cameras:

Arlington*

• Northbound Cooper @303 $2,450,877.47
• Northbound Watson @ Avenue H $2,060,015.17
• Northbound South Cooper @ West Park Row $1,456,919.00
• Northbound North Cooper@ Road to Six Flags $1,293,168.16
• *Represents money from 2008-2012

Dallas*

• Westbound Lovers Lane @ North Central Expressway $2,283,673
• Forest Lane EB + EBLT @ Plano $1,469,475
• Westbound Mockingbird Lane @ Central NBSR $1,308,675
• * City of Dallas dollar amount figures are based on the number of citations issued x $75/ per citation since Fiscal Year 2009.

Fort Worth*

• Westbound West Freeway Service Road @ Ashland Ave $1,765,186.15
• Eastbound E Rosedale Street (West Side) @ South Freeway Service Road South $1,172,461.47
• *Represents money collected from 2008 to September 2012

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Homeowner Shoots, Kills Man Climbing Through Window

Omar Villafranca, NBC 5 News

A homeowner fatally shot a man as he climbed through a window and into his home Monday afternoon, Dallas police say.

Man Killed Attempting to Rob Home: Police

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Intruder Shot, Killed by Homeowner in Dallas

A suspected intruder was shot and killed as he was climbing through a window at a home on the 2200 block of Morrell Avenue Monday afternoon, police say. Dallas police are investigating.

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A homeowner fatally shot a man as he climbed through a window and into his home Monday afternoon, Dallas police say.
 
The shooting took place at a home on the 2200 block of Morrell Avenue at about 4:15 p.m.
 
Police said the homeowner heard a noise inside his residence and shot a man, later identified as 33-year-old Deyfon Pipkins, aka BJ, as he climbed through the window.

"The homeowner heard a noise. He came around the corner, saw the individual trying to climb into the window and according to the law, the castle doctrine, he used deadly force," said Sgt. Calvin Johnson, with the Dallas Police Department.

According to police, the homeowner then called 911. When police arrived, officer's found Pipkins' body lying lifeless in the window.
 
Pipkins mother, Catherine, said she had been called to the scene by her daughter-in-law and said the crime sounded like something her son would do.
 
"Yeah, it's something he would do ... Somebody called me and said my son got shot that's the reason I'm standing here," said Catherine Pipkins. "Somebody called her [her daughter-in-law] and told her he had got shot. She said, 'Momma you need to sit down, they said BJ just got killed.' That's the reason I'm here."

The woman said her son did not live at the home.

Pipkins had a lengthy criminal history in Dallas that included numerous charges for theft, trespassing and possession of a controlled substance.

Police said the shooting is a Castle Doctrine case and the Dallas County Grand Jury will decide whether or not the homeowner faces any charges.

NBC 5's Omar Villafranca and Kevin Cokely contributed to this report.

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Frisco HS Basketball Player's Inspiring Game

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Dealing with illness, a Frisco HS Basketball player makes a play no one will soon forget.

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It's senior night at Frisco Wakeland High School, and it just happens to be the biggest game of the season.  The Wolverines need a win against Heritage High School to make the playoffs.
               
Senior forward Justin Nicholas is returning to the court for the first time since December.  Win or lose, this will be his last game.
               
"I've missed it a lot.  I've even had dreams about playing," said Nicholas.  "You know, you never realize how much you miss something until it's gone."

Midway through the basketball season, Justin was rushed to the hospital after finding lumps on his body.  On Christmas eve, he had emergency surgery for testicular cancer.

"When we found out it was just like 'wow,'" said the senior.  "You never know what could happen, you never know when your life could end.  You just take little things for granted like playing basketball."

Surgery was successful, but the cancer had spread.  Justin is through three rounds of chemotherapy, with one more to go.

"At first, it was really hard," said Justin's mom Gayla Nicholas.  "There would be nights where he and I were at the hospital where he'd become very emotional, which was very tough.  But he has very good spirits, a very good attitude and he's handled this extremely well."

Through chemotherapy, Justin's health is improving.  His basketball coach wanted to recognize that progress on senior night.

"Since it was taken from him so suddenly, I knew coach Harris over at Heritage would be completely on board with the fact if we could work something out, get him in the game, let him score a bucket and just let him get in the box score with his teammates one last time," said Wakeland basketball coach Brent Benningfield.

To a standing ovation, Justin was welcomed back to the court and introduced as a starter.  The two teams allowed Nicholas to take the ball and score the game's first basket.  Wakeland then let Heritage score an uncontested layup to tie the game at two.  Nine seconds into the game, Justin left the court knowing his varsity career was over.

On a night that celebrated Justin's determination, the basketball game had a similar theme.  Wakeland hit a game winning bucket in the final minute.  Final score, Wakeland 67, Heritage 65.

"It was awesome, a lot better than I thought it would be with everyone behind me," says Justin. 

"It was such an amazing night and I want to just thank everyone for coming out and supporting me.  It means so much to me."    
 

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Police: Former Constable Killed Ex-Girlfriend

Andres Gutierrez, NBC 5 News

Rockwall police said former Hunt County constable Anthony Lewis shot and killed his ex-girlfriend. Lewis then led police on a 45 minute chase from Rockwall to Greenville.

Police: Former Constable...

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High Speed Chase After Shooting In Rockwall

The suspect in the shooting lead police on a 45 minute chase through several North Texas cities.

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A Rockwall mother of three children died Saturday. Police believe Jessica Aguilar's ex-boyfriend, former Hunt County Constable Anthony DeWayne Lewis killed her before leading police on a pursuit and gunfight.

NBC DFW talked with the Aguilar's son, Jaime Puente. He said Lewis approached his mother at his sister's basketball game hours before she died on Saturday night.

"He wasn't being violent," Puente said. "My mom was just trying to be civil... She let him stay there."

According to Puente, Aguilar and Lewis met about five years ago at work.  She was an apartment complex manager and he worked security. They had recently split.

"I just had that feeling that there something wrong," Puente said. "He got mad way too easy." 

He adds that Lewis was upset at the fact that Aguilar had started dating again.

Lewis served as constable in Commerce, until he was defeated in the recent Republican Primary. He left office January 1.  His law enforcement experience was a factor in the officers' response.

"It certainly made us consider our tactics given that he knows how we operate," Rockwall police Sgt. Aaron McGrew, with Rockwall Police said.

Once the chase ended in Greenville, a standoff ensued.

"The suspect produced a handgun and pointed it to the direction of the officers," Sgt. McGrew said. "Officers from several agencies opened fire at that point."

Aguilar's companion, Francisco Delacruz, was taken to Baylor Hospital and is expected to survive.

Lewis is at Parkland Hospital in Dallas in critical condition.  He is charged with one count of murder on one million dollars bond and one count of attempted murder with a $500,000 bond. 

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North Texas Cruise Passengers Happy to Be Home

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Passengers Cheer Escape From "Horrible" Cruise

Passengers from the disabled Carnival Triumph are glad to be back on land after five nightmarish days marked by overflowing toilets and food shortages.

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A ticket to paradise turned into a cruise from hell.

About a dozen of North Texans who were on board the Carnival Triumph finally made it home on Friday.

The ship, which was adrift in the Gulf of Mexico for five days after an engine fire, was finally pushed to Alabama on Thursday night.

Friday morning, some North Texas passengers were flown home to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Gloria Hoagland, of Plano, was part of a Jazzercise group on the cruise. When the ships engines caught fire, the crew didn't know how bad the damage was until nine hours later, she said. That's when that the crew confirmed they were stuck at sea.

"Every day, we kept getting a report -- it was one more day, one more day, so we weren't convinced that we would even arrive on Thursday night," Hoagland said.

Conditions on the ship quickly deteriorated after the ship lost power. Hoagland said the ship started listing some, causing problems on the lower decks.

"The sewage -- when the boat lists back and forth, the sewage did spill out of the toilets onto the floors, came out of the walls, drainage, you know. That's why we stopped showering three or four days ago, because the sewage was coming up from the drain and, with no electricity, you couldn't see what was going on in the bathroom," she said.

Sheila Ruble, of Frisco, was staying on one of the lower floor rooms with some of her friends. When the power went out, trouble poured out into her room.

"There was sewage that came up from the shower drainage," she said. "We did not stay in the room. The stench, the hot, the heat, was so bad down there, we moved up to the fourth floor outside."

The stench forced hundreds of passengers to look for higher ground and fresh air. Passengers dragged bed sheets, mattresses and towels to the deck to set up tents and places to sleep.

Hoagland said the crew members did a great job helping passengers any way they could, from fresh clothes to food. Passengers even helped out other passengers.

"I was very fortunate, because I was in a cabin. I actually met two older women who were down in two and, with the sewage and stuff, their cabin got ruined. And we invited them up and they slept with us for the next four nights. We just sort of made it work," Hoagland said. "People were sharing cabins, people were sleeping in the hallways. My room was clean, so we were inviting people over to use our balcony, get some fresh air, because without the balcony, you smelled sewer and diesel and bad things. I'm thankful for some fresh air."

Because most electricity was out, passengers were fed sandwiches and melons, Hoagland said. She said the lines were long, but people waited in them in order to eat.

Ruble said Carnival offered passengers a reimbursement for the trip, as well as an additional $500. The company also paid for the return trip home and even offered passengers a free cruise in the future.

Ruble loves cruises and had plans to go again with her girlfriends. But after this ordeal, she plans to wait a little while before hopping on an ocean liner.

"The first couple of days -- 'Hey, this is cool. Let's do this again next year.' And then when we were with each other for days and nights, we were like, 'You know, I think we're good catching up for another five years,' so I don't know if we're going to be doing it anytime soon," Ruble joked.

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Miami Fugitive Shot, Killed by Police

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Days after he attacked a Miami-Dade police officer and escaped, fugitive Alberto Morales was shot and killed by police, according to Grapevine Police and the Southlake Department of Public Safety.

In a news conference early Saturday morning, police told NBC DFW that Morales was shot and killed around 12:25 a.m. in the 2200 block of Lake Ridge Drive near Grapevine Lake.

"With the use of the helicopter and the infrared capability of the helicopter, they (police) were able to identify someone in the woods not far from where the house was burglarized," Sergeant Robert Eberling, Grapevine PD. "Officers and members of the US Marshalls Fugitive Task Force responded to that area. They encountered Mr. Morales. He was shot and he is now deceased."

Officers Scout Vacant Homes for Morales

Police are following leads from the public in the continued manhunt for Miami fugitive Alberto Morales.

Police Going Door-to-Door in Search for Fugitive

Four days after he attacked a Miami-Dade police officer, fugitive Alberto Morales is still on the loose.

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The latest chain of events started when Grapevine Police responded to a burglary call at a home in the 2100 block of Forest Hills Road around 10:30 p.m on Friday. Officers said men's clothing and jewelry were missing.

The launch for Morales was launched. Grapevine Police said Morales was found hidden in a wooded area near Grapevine Lake. A Grapevine officer and two US Marshalls Fugitive Task Force Members encountered Morales and shot him while trying to apprehend him.

As of 3:25 a.m., police had not moved Morales' body. "It was apparent and clearly obvious today he was not interested in going to jail," said Chris Heisler, President of Founder of the Honor Network. "That essentially cost him his life by being a danger and a threat to our officers. So it's a great day for Texans being comfortable knowing that this guy is gone." 

The Southlake DPS Facebook page first tweeted the information shortly after 1:00 a.m.

On Thursday, federal agents went door-to-door in the neighborhoods near the Grapevine Wal-Mart, where they talked to homeowners and searched barns and sheds in the area.

Grapevine-area Constable Tim Burch is assisting in the search for Morales, who is considered armed and dangerous.

"He's had to have gone somewhere and gotten some clothes, you would think, or he's holed up in a barn somewhere or gained access to a home somewhere. Who knows?" Burch said then.

Investigators say, based on the time shown on surveillance video, Morales only had about a 10-minute head start on police after the attack.

The last confirmed sighting of Morales was soon after the Monday night attack, when construction workers spotted him running near the Kimball Avenue exit of state Highway 114 in Southlake.

Police had described Morales as a "dangerous" and "desperate" fugitive.

On Thursday, Grapevine police released a photo of a distinct tattoo of a Native American on a horse that Morales has on his left arm. Authorities also said that he was likely in new clothes and could be seeking food, water and shelter.

Morales Unchained

Up until Thursday, Grapevine police had told NBC 5 they believed Morales could still have been in shackles when he escaped but now say they believe the felon may have disabled the restraints before the escape.

Burch told NBC DFW that the shackles used in prisoner transport are difficult to free oneself from.

"A transport belt, if used properly, in the many years I've been in law enforcement, I haven't seen anybody get loose from one of them," Burch said.

Miami-Dade police said there will be a full investigation into how Morales escaped from his shackles.

Officials: "He's Not Going Back to Prison"

Grapevine officer Robert Eberling said inmates who knew Morales in prison have told investigators that he had vowed not to return.

"He's made it pretty clear that he's not going back to prison," Eberling said.

On a recording of a 911 call released Wednesday, Pardinas can be heard breathing heavily as he tells the operator that he's been stabbed. He described Morales' height, weight and appearance and then added: "He's a schizophrenic."

On another 911 call, a bystander told the operator: "There's a guy with a gun and somebody on the floor bleeding." The caller than clarified that "the guy with the gun is helping the guy that's bleeding."

Pardinas was accompanied by Miami-Dade Detective David Carrero during the transfer. They flew to Houston with Morales and then decided to drive the rest of the way after he became disruptive on the flight.

They had stopped near the Wal-Mart while waiting for a third officer who was flying in to the Dallas area join them. Department policy requires three officers to be present for ground transfers of prisoners.

Pardinas, 54, remained hospitalized in Dallas on Wednesday after undergoing surgery. He's "making progress" and expected recover, a Miami-Dade police spokesman said.

In a news conference at Parkland Hospital Wednesday, authorities said Pardinas was stabbed very deeply in the neck and back and that he suffered a collapsed lung.  While his condition is improving, he is still listed in serious but stable condition.

Pardinas and Carrero were taking Morales to Nevada to serve a sentence of 30 years to life for a conviction of sexual assault with a weapon.

"We're really relieved for the citizens of this community. We knew we had a dangerous individual out there on the streets. And he was capable of being extremely violent. That is what we're relieved of," said Sgt. Eberling.

This report compiled from several NBC 5 reporters covering the story.

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