The frightening news of another shooting, this time inside Dallas Love Field Airport, was exacerbated by the fact that the assailant identified has a lengthy history of mental illness and serious crimes.
According to New York Post, Portia Odufuwa, 37, allegedly fired several rounds near the ticketing counter after yelling about her marriage and threatening to blow up the airport. She was immediately confronted and shot by a Dallas police officer, the publication reports.
Dallas Chief of Police Eddie Garcia said the woman was dropped off at the airport just before 11 a.m. by an Uber driver. Surveillance video would show Odufuwa entering the airport restroom to change clothes, her hands in her pockets, and then heading to the ticketing area, where she paced around the kiosks.
Garcia noticed the woman’s behavior and signaled Officer Ronald Cronin to intervene. According to witnesses, Odufuwa began talking about her marriage and incarceration and threatened to blow up the airport.
In the past, she had once claimed to be “God’s prophet,” professed that she was married to singer Chris Brown, and can be seen pointing the gun toward the ceiling in the video, where she fired two shots. When she pointed the gun in the direction of Officer Cronin and a bystander, the former fired several shots, striking Odufuwa multiple times.
“You have to shoot and stop the threat. Him moving and looking for cover, that’s just where the round went,” Garcia said. “If you look at what that officer had to do with, quite frankly, shooting over some people, trying to get a line of sight, kind of trying to find the perfect angle to get a shot at her as quickly as possible.”
There were no other injuries reported, and Garcia expressed that he was proud of the quick response of all officers working inside the airport, including the 15-year veteran who apprehended the armed woman.
Odufuwa is still in the hospital, but her past transgressions reveal an alarming number of crimes for which she has been found mentally unfit to stand trial, according to a report. This includes bank robbery, arson, and more than once she’s given police Brown’s address, saying she lived with the “Run It” performer, calling him her “husband,” affidavits reportedly show.
Odufuwa has been charged with aggravated assault against a public servant in the Dallas Love Field shooting. She may face other federal charges, but nothing has been offered about the motivation behind the action.
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