Dallas apartment manager killed by former security guard

DALLAS - A former security guard was killed by police after he returned to returned to the Dallas apartment complex he was let go from and fatally shot the apartment manager.

The initial fatal shooting happened around 10:15 a.m. Tuesday at the North End Apartments, which is near the Perot Museum on Field Street.

Police say 29-year-old Marlon Smith, one of the complex's former security guards, showed up at the front office and killed the apartment manager, 52-year-old Nancy Churchwell. He then ran away, prompting a widespread search.

Around 1 p.m., a U.S. Marshal and two Dallas police officers found Smith in the 2100 block of Hulse Boulevard in East Oak Cliff. Authorities say he produced a gun when he got out of a car and began firing officer. They returned fire and fatally shot him. No officers were injured.

Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall says she's troubled that the suspect was a former security guard.

"It disturbs us as a community, as a whole, when we hire individuals to protect us and then they turn around and become the individuals that put us in harm's way or actually harm us," she said.

FOX 4’s Dionne Anglin talked to residents who were gathered outside the crime scene tape.

“I was coming home for lunch and I see all these people. I bike to work. I live half a mile from work and I’m just coming home to grab a little bite to eat, you know, and I see all this going on,” said Hunter Polvi, who lives in the complex. “I am mesmerized, dumbfounded and shocked.”

“It could have been me because I was literally on my way to stop and pick up a package in the complex,” added Curtis King. "I'm shocked because this is a very, very good complex."

Some neighbors who were kept out of the complex during the investigation said they recently received a safety warning about Smith.

"He had mentioned to keep an eye out for a certain security guard," Polvi said.

One of Smith's family members said he had been going back to the complex since being let go to try to get his job back.