Motel 6 tenant fatally shot after confrontation with Garland police and SWAT; 2nd person found dead in hotel room
A Motel 6 tenant was fatally shot Wednesday afternoon after pointing a gun at Garland police officers and a standoff with SWAT, according to authorities.
Garland police were called to the Motel 6 located at 12721 LBJ Freeway for a disturbance between a motel tenant, later identified as 52-year-old Shawn Dylan Burt, a resident of Hutchins, Texas, and management. Officers were told the tenant had overstayed the time he had paid for and management wanted him to leave.
When police arrived, they said they tried to speak with Burt, who pointed a firearm at them.
Garland PD said the officers took cover, and due to what they described as a high-risk situation, SWAT was called. Detectives obtained a warrant for Burt's room and nearby rooms were evacuated.
SWAT attempts to negotiate for hours
SWAT team negotiators tried to communicate with him for hours via loudspeaker and phone calls, Garland PD said, but he refused.
Garland police said that after negotiation attempts failed, the SWAT team sent tear gas into the room and tried to force Burt to surrender. As SWAT team negotiators approached the room's window, Burt confronted one of the SWAT officers with a firearm from inside the room, according to police.
Garland PD said the officer fired his department-issued rifle and struck Burt.
"And they were saying 'go back in your room, go back in your room,'" said John Hambrick, who has lived at the motel for several years. "Next thing you know, it's the SWAT team, and they were on a bullhorn, asking whoever was inside to come out. The first explosion, that was mild compared to the second one. The second one was bad, and it was rattling the walls and the alarms went off in the room, and then I heard pop pop… a gunshot.. then it was like seven or eight in a row."
SWAT finds suspect, second person dead in motel room
The SWAT team then entered the room and found that Burt had been fatally shot. A second person, already dead, was also found in the room. On Thursday, Garland police identified that person as 69-year-old Donald Bailey Sr., a resident of Dallas.
Garland PD said its investigation indicates that Bailey died from a gunshot wound and had been dead for several hours before the shooting involving Burt.
Hambrick said Burt had lived at the motel for about a month.
"When we first moved in here, it was, to my knowledge, just him and his dog. I didn't even know he had a roommate," Hambrick said. "He had worked down the street where I used to work."
Police said the men were not related. Hambrick said crime in the area has improved, but it's inevitable across the metroplex.
"There's crime everywhere," he said. "No matter where you go it's the same."
Police said a handgun was recovered from inside the motel room and Bailey's death is being investigated as a homicide.
"A tragedy, however you play it out"
"This is a tragedy, however you play it out," Garland PD Lieutenant Pedro Barineau said. "I mean, we have two people that were dead. One, because they displayed a gun toward a police officer. And the other person, we're still trying to determine what was the cause of death. But nonetheless, families have been impacted here."
Garland PD said no officers were injured.
Garland PD's Criminal Investigations Division is investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident and the death of the second person discovered in the room.
