Shooter Clayton Matthews
LE††UCE PREY
Dallas Police said 40-year-old Clayton Matthews told them that after the holiday performance he and the stepfather of his children, John Steven Farmer, got into an argument in the parking lot of Lakewood Presbyterian over “Steve” “getting onto one of the children over making loud noises during the holiday performance.”
Matthews said Farmer hit him with a closed fist in the face and then hit him again in the thigh, causing him to fall. Matthews told police that when he fell to the ground he feared for his life, pulled out his gun, and fired at Farmer until he felt he had “stopped the threat.”
According to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by NBC 5, Farmer was hit at least six times, in the right thigh, left calf, right heel, and twice in the lower abdomen. Farmer was listed in stable condition Thursday night.
Good guy with a gun
An armed witness who heard the gunfire in the parking lot told police he turned and pulled out his weapon and told Matthews to put his gun down. He told police Matthews removed the magazine and placed the gun and clip on the ground.
The shooter is being held on a $100,000 bond.
The shooting occurred shortly after the conclusion of the parochial school at Lakewood Presbyterian Church’s annual Christmas program, Denton said, after an altercation broke out between two adults on the walkway outside of the school’s gymnasium.
After the shooting, Rev. Brad C. Denton said, armed Lakewood Presbyterian Church personnel “acted decisively to engage and contain the attacker” while community members tended to the victim as Dallas Police Department and Dallas Fire-Rescue units were dispatched to the scene.
This is the second recent church parking lot shooting that NV has reported.
