Katy Trail Gun Scare A False Alarm; Residents Angry
Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter
UPTOWN DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A scare along Dallas' popular Katy Trail led to a flood of 911 calls Tuesday evening. Two men were spotted with rifles… turns out the rifles were toys.
"I would be frightened," says runner Jasmine Elias, "I absolutely would be. I would be definitely running the opposite direction, probably with my phone in hand calling 911."
Dallas bicycle officers routinely patrol the trail—but, close to a dozen officers responded when calls escalated from 'suspicious person' to 'armed encounter'… with the callers having no way of knowing that the weapons were fake.
"It kind of makes me really angry that people would come out here and do that," says Kelsey Bond. Bond says she enjoys walking the trail several times a week. She's both annoyed and disappointed that others would raise an unnecessary alarm. "Especially with everything that's going on and not being sensitive to the fact that we are having campus shootings… and a lot of shootings that are happening all over the country right now."
"I know I saw the officers out here and I saw them with their weapons drawn," says Bill Williams, with Friends of the Katy Trail, the non-profit that manages the popular greenspace. He, too, wonders at the wisdom of appearing in public armed—even if it's a prank.
"I don't understand what their reasoning was, what their motivation was, and what they intended to accomplish by it," says Williams. "But, I'm really happy that we have the Dallas Police department out here to take care of those things and to come so quickly."
According to Dallas police, the men were located, questioned and released. Texas, after all, allows the open carry of long rifles. Real ones. Remember the 'open carry' demonstrations? Still, fans of the Katy Trail say guns and fear shouldn't be 'playthings' forced on an unsuspecting public.
"I understand that Texas is an open carry state and people are allowed to have guns," says Bond, "but, you need to be responsible. If it's for play, don't strap it on and walk down Katy Trail. Go take it to a gun range… or take it hunting." Bottom line, says Bond, "get a life. You need to do something better with your time."
(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
