Four in custody, one still at large for allegedly shooting at Selma police officer

Published 5:02 pm Thursday, March 16, 2017

Four suspects are in custody and one is still on the run for allegedly shooting at a Selma police officer early Wednesday morning.

Brandon Hatcher, 35, Deseray Strong, 20, and Charles Pullom, 36, have been arrested in the case. Damarious Pullom, 26, turned himself in late Thursday afternoon.

According to an arrest report from the Dallas County Jail, Hatcher, Strong and Charles Pullom have been charged with attempted murder on a police officer and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle. Hatcher and Strong were also charged with first-degree hindering prosecution, and Pullom was charged with first-degree criminal mischief.

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Selma Police Chief Spencer Collier said Damarious Pullom, who had not been booked into the Dallas County Jail yet, will face the same charges. The other three suspects are being held without bond.

“Unfortunately, it has become commonplace to shoot at police officers in Selma,” Collier said. “That is not acceptable anywhere, and we’re definitely not going to accept it in Selma.”

The incident happened around 3 a.m. on Eisenhower Street when a police officer was following a car suspected of being involved in a shooting in the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department’s jurisdiction.

“Our officer received a BOLO (be on the lookout) from the county … for a white Dodge Charger that had been involved in several shootings into homes in the county,” Collier said Thursday morning. “So our officer sat at the edge of the police jurisdiction. Another officer spotted the car on the bridge.”

Collier said one of the officers got behind the vehicle, followed it for a while and turned on his lights after the suspects’ car turned onto Eisenhower Street. Collier said the officer’s car was fully marked.

“The officer blue lighted them at that point, and then at that point he thought they were going to run,” Collier said. “Instead of running, all four doors opened, and they opened fire on him.”

Collier said the officer was out of the car when allegedly five suspects opened fire, but he was not injured.

“He didn’t stand a chance when he got out with those rifles, so he dove back in the car and was able to get his arm up, throw it in reverse and get about 100 feet between them, and that’s when they ran off,” Collier said.

Collier said investigators recovered an SKS rifle, an AR-15 and a Glock .40 caliber. They also collected a 100-round drum for the SKS.

District Attorney Michael Jackson said all four suspects will have bond hearings Friday morning.

Damarious Pullom was already wanted by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department for allegedly shooting into a truck and injuring the driver on Jan. 26 near Craig Field. Pullom was also wanted by the Selma Police Department as a suspect in several shootings in the Selmont area.

This is the second incident in recent weeks where an officer has been shot at. Suspects opened fire on the same officer at George Washington Carver Homes on Martin Luther King Street on Feb. 28 when the officer approached a group of people suspected of drinking and smoking marijuana. The officer was not hurt in this incident either.

Collier said shooting at an officer is not something the department is going to tolerate.