Monday afternoon, Dallas County Commissioners partnered with Dallas County Sheriff Michael Granthum in their monthly scheduled meeting to recognize one of his deputies for his bravery and courageous effort in the Summerfield tragic shooting that took place on Friday, March 21. 

The shooting left one elderly resident dead and still today, many others involved are recovering.  The honorable deputy that was recognized was Dallas County Chief Deputy John Hatfield. 

Hatfield received a plaque during the meeting honoring his exceptional bravery and courage in the face of adversity during the tragedy that took place almost three weeks ago.

As Granthum retold the story regarding the tragic incident to the public, he mentioned that Hatfield got up immediately after he got the call from his oldest daughter about the incident taking place and went to the scene to try to see how he could help.

Once on scene, Granthum said Hatfield noticed that 42-year-old Lorenzo Edwards had two guns in his hands.

“Now, bear in mind, this guy has already shot several people and then shot several times. When we got the guns, these guns were fully loaded,” Granthum said. “To keep it short, Hatfield was able to talk him down and get the guns out of his hands, get him on the ground and get him (into) custody. During the interview, those guns played a major part because it placed something on my mind when he told me this, ‘You know Sheriff, I just want to tell you, I’m glad y’all caught me because y’all would’ve been working a lot more dead bodies tonight.’ And I believe him due to the fact that he already reloaded those guns. He wasn’t through.” 

Granthum proceeded to say that not only was Hatfield a hero, but his daughter was as well.

“If it wasn’t for her calling, there’s no telling how many lives we would have lost that night,” Granthum said. “She actually took that woman that was bashed in the back of her head into her home. We don’t know how many lives we saved that night but by the grace of God my Chief’s life was saved and even the bad guy’s life was saved. That’s the last thing we want to do as law enforcement officers is to shoot and kill somebody but you got to do what you got to do to save a life.”

Hatfield told the public that he is thankful for the recognition but said he did what he was trained to do. 

“My daughter saved lives that night. My team saved lives that night, but here’s the most important thing for us to understand. We also lost a life that night. Edwards killed a lady just south or north of my daughter’s yard. He brutally beat her to death while she’s on the phone with 9-1-1 because she was trying to help. Even though I have 30 years in law enforcement, I appreciate the recognition, but that’s not what I’m here for. I’m here to make sure that we save lives and to make sure the citizens of this county are protected,” Hatfield said. 

After Hatfield’s speech, the Dallas County Commission including the Dallas County Sheriff honored the heroics of Hatfield with a photo and a round of applause from the audience.