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Two Dead, Two Wounded At DART Station Shooting

A shooting at the Arapaho Center DART station yesterday afternoon is the fourth violent incident in three months at a rail station. As KERA’s BJ Austin reports, the latest incident left two people dead, two wounded.

Richardson Police Sgt. Kevin Perlich says the gunfire was apparently preceded by an argument with a bus driver at the Arapaho Station stop over the validity of a bus pass. He says the bus driver notified a DART officer. The suspect got off the bus and walked to the nearby train platform.

Perlich: It appears the suspect pulled out a firearm and started to shoot at the DART officer. She was shot once, possibly twice. The DART officer returned fire at our suspect.

Two men, bystanders waiting for a train were shot, one fatally. The other is expected to recover. Sgt. Perlich says investigators don’t know yet if they were shot by the suspect, or caught in the crossfire. DART says the officer was shot once in her bulletproof vest, and once in the shoulder, but managed to attend to the wounded passengers and also pointed officers toward a nearby business, where the suspect had fled. Sgt. Perlich says gunfire there ended with the suspect’s death.

Perlich: There is a wound to the head. It’s unclear whether or not that was in the exchange with the officers or if, in fact, it was self-inflicted.

The workers at the Vent-A-Hood business were unharmed.

The Arapaho rail station was wrapped in yellow police tape and offline for about three hours. DART rail passengers had to wait for a bus to take them to the next operating train stop. Karen and Arnie Bateman say they have no qualms about riding DART, but Ibrahim Saddiqui says the incident had made him more cautious.

Bateman: No not really. This is the first incident that we’ve ever had any problems with.

Saddiqui: It does like wake you up a bit.

Sgt. Perlich says DART Police will investigate the platform shooting. Richardson Police are in charge of the Vent-A-Hood scene.

Former KERA reporter BJ Austin spent more than 25 years in broadcast journalism, anchoring and reporting in Atlanta, New York, New Orleans and Dallas. Along the way, she covered Atlanta City Hall, the Georgia Legislature and the corruption trials of Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards.