Prosecutors detail criminal history of convicted cop killer Brandon McCall

Prosecutors took a jury through every crime a convicted murderer committed before he killed Richardson Police Officer David Sherrard.

Procecutors said Monday they want to show a pattern in Brandon McCall's behavior. The jury also learned more about the negotiations between McCall and police on the night of that deadly shooting.

Jurors found Brandon McCall guilty of capital murder last week for the 2018 shooting death of Sherrard, a SWAT officer with Richardson PD. McCall was also convicted of killing his own friend, Rene Gamez, who had taken him in.

The Richardson police negotiator who tried to get McCall to surrender, Officer Brad Shackleford, said he spoke to McCall by phone off and on over the course of 1 hour and 48 minutes.

“Initially he was crying...a little bit up and down over the course of our conversation,” Shackleford said. “He mentioned that every time the police showed up in his life it was bad. You know, they [police] basically ruined his life.”

Shackleford noted that on several occasions McCall mentioned suicide.

“I never remember him saying he was going through with it, just that he mentioned it,” Shackleford said.

McCall eventually walked out of the apartment after the SWAT team deployed more than 60 canisters of tear gas.

After Shackleford’s testimony, the state called police officers from several departments to build a timeline of McCall’s run ins with the law.

It started in 2008, when McCall was just 16-years old, with a violation of city park curfew. Over the years there was possession of marijuana, evading arrest, public intoxication and possession of cocaine.

Things escalated in 2017. A Lyft driver testified that McCall pulled a large kitchen knife after the driver told him to get out of the car. The arresting Grand Prairie officer said McCall appeared to be intoxicated and told him he was high.

But during cross examination of the Lyft driver and arresting officers, McCall’s defense team asked if McCall was ever violent or belligerent with them. All of the witnesses said no.

The state will resume presenting its case in the penalty phase on Tuesday.