Suspect in fatal Dallas shooting of 4 people, including baby, dies in police chase
The search for the gunman who killed four people, including a 1-year-old boy, in a Dallas, Texas, home ended with the suspect leading police on a high-speed freeway chase and dying by apparent suicide after crashing into a ditch, authorities said.
The quadruple killing unfolded Sunday afternoon in a southeast Dallas neighborhood. The Dallas Police Department said the carnage appeared to stem from an isolated incident and "there is no threat to the public."
During the investigation, police identified 21-year-old Byron Carillo as the suspect in the shooting, police said in a statement.
Family members of those killed told ABC affiliate station WFAA that Carillo was the ex-boyfriend of one of the victims they identified as 20-year-old Vanessa De La Cruz and the father of the De La Cruz's child, Logan De La Cruz, the boy killed in the attack.
De La Cruz broke up with Carillo because he was allegedly abusive, the family said. The shooting took place at the home of De La Cruz's parents.
Carillo, according to police, had been ordered to wear an ankle monitoring device after being charged in 2021 with aggravated assault. It was not immediately clear if Vanessa De La Cruz was the victim in the 2021 case.
"The suspect cut off the ankle monitor at some point, before or immediately after, committing the offense," police said in the statement about Sunday's shooting.
Carillo was spotted Monday driving a stolen car on Interstate 35 in Austin, more than 200 miles from Dallas, according to police.
When highway patrol officers attempted to stop him, a chase ensued, according to police. During the pursuit, Carillo careened off the freeway and crashed into a ditch before attempting to flee the scene on foot, police said.
"When officers got close to Carillo, he shot himself in the head and died at the scene," according to police.
The killings at the home in southeast Dallas unfolded about 4:20 a.m. on Sunday and marked the 627th mass shooting this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks shootings across the nation and defines a mass shooting as an event with a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter
Logan De La Cruz, who was identified by the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office, became the 272nd child 11 years old or younger killed in a shooting this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
When officers arrived at the scene, they found three adults dead from gunshot wounds inside the house and two children, Logan and a 15-year-old girl, according to the police statement.
Logan was taken to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries, police said. The teenage girl, whose name was not released, was treated at a hospital and released, according to police.
A 13-year-old girl was also found inside the house uninjured, according to police.
The others killed in the shooting were identified by the medical examiner's office as Karina Lopez, 33, and Jose Lopez, 50.
A motive for the slayings remains under investigation.
The number of homicides in Dallas is up roughly 11% this year from 2022, according to Dallas Police Department crime data. As of Sunday, the city had recorded 226 homicides in 2023.
