The man who fatally shot a Dallas police officer in August is suspected of shooting a different person before he killed Darron Burks and wounded two other officers, police officials confirmed to The Dallas Morning News.
Forensic testing linked Corey Cobb-Bey, 30, to a shooting that occurred Aug. 29 about 9:20 p.m. at Kiest Park in the 3000 block of South Hampton Road, police spokesperson Corbin Rubinson confirmed.
Forty minutes later, Cobb-Bey fatally shot Burks about four miles away as the officer sat in his squad car outside the For Oak Cliff community center.
The person shot at Kiest Park survived the attack, Rubinson said, adding Cobb-Bey is the only suspect in that case so it’s now considered closed. The other circumstances of the crime were not immediately clear.
The new details are the first to be released about Cobb-Bey’s alleged actions in the hours leading up to the brazen killing of Burks, a 46-year-old former schoolteacher who’d recently graduated from the police academy.
Former Dallas police Chief Eddie García has said the killing of Burks was a premeditated execution. It was not immediately clear if the suspected motive has changed during the course of the police investigation.
Burks parked his patrol car about 10 p.m. in the 900 block of East Ledbetter Drive when Cobb-Bey approached from the driver’s side window, raised a handgun and fired. A police dispatcher noticed an unusual transmission from Burks’ radio and alerted other officers.
Dallas police Sr. Cpls. Jamie Farmer and Karissa David responded to check on Burks and also were shot. Other officers then chased Cobb-Bey to Lewisville and fatally shot him.
Farmer was treated and released from a hospital shortly after the shooting. David was hospitalized for weeks and is blind in both eyes from the shooting, officials have said.
