The Twins
This story is a tough one. I’m working at the Fort Worth Police Department in the fall of 1982. Patrolling on the evening shift I have the short west side of downtown and the sun had already gone down. I finished a disturbance call when the dispatcher sent me on another, “Frank Two Fifteen (designated F-215) copy call. Signal fifteen, disturbance at 2706 Merrimac St. Unknown if any weapons.”
That was the last transmission I got from the dispatcher. It would normally be a two officer call but there weren’t any other units available. I was used to it and headed towards the call at a high rate of speed. I didn’t turn on any emergency lights or siren.
I called on the scene and turned the corner onto Merrimac Street. As I did, headlights came on and a car parked at the curb took off towards me. The white Chevy Nova drove past me at a normal rate of speed. I continued towards the call. I used the car spotlight to check addresses. While I’m checking things out, I hear the dispatcher pull an officer off another call to come help me. I didn’t think about it at the time. As I pulled up to the address, I realized this was where the car who passed me was pulling away from. Since I was thinking about the situation and not procedure, I screwed up. I pulled up in front of the address. I should’ve stopped down the block a house or two to observe. Now I must go in. As I exited the car two five year old girls came running out of the house. They had to be twins. They looked exactly alike and were dressed alike. They were beautiful little girls. They came running at me crying at the same time yelling, “They shot my daddy! They shot my daddy!”
I grabbed them, “Everything is okay. Nothing will hurt you now.”
As they were hugging me hard I noticed a splotch of blood on one of the girls’ foreheads. I checked it and it wasn’t her blood. Something happened or is happening in the house. I put the girls in my car and locked the door. I told them I’d be right back. I got on the radio to ask how far off my back up was. He informed me he was several minutes off. I told him to move his ass and check the girls in my car when he got here.
I walked up and the screen door was standing open as was the main door. There was a leg blocking the doors from closing. I walked around the corner into a horror movie. The man was laying on his back with most of his head gone above the nose. The rest of his face was caved in and you couldn’t recognize anything human from the neck up. There was a large pool of dark red blood around the upper torso. The walls and furniture were completely spattered with bright red blood. It was a nightmare. This had just happened seconds ago. The car I saw leaving must’ve been involved.
Suddenly I heard a noise. I stepped over the body and drew my weapon. I turned down the hall and the first door to the left was the kitchen. I came through the doorway ready to shoot. I stood there and a man was over the kitchen sink splashing water on his blood-soaked face. There was blood everywhere. I told him to freeze. He hesitated and reached for a butcher’s knife. He picked it up and I said, “Drop it or you won’t believe what happens next.”
He looked up and saw I was a police officer. He put the knife down and I noticed half his cheek was dangling from his mouth up to his ear like a piece of meat. He’d been cut badly, and blood was pouring out of it. I searched the rest of the house, and it was clear. My back up arrived. I put handcuffs on the guy in the kitchen and called an ambulance. I called out a description of the white Chevy Nova to dispatch for all the other units. I went back outside and a doctor who lived in the area walked up. He knew the family and the girls. The girls seemed happy to see him. I verified his information and let the girls go home with him.
There was blood everywhere in the house, I don’t know how crime scene search sorted it all out. The image of that night is seared in my memory. I can’t imagine what those precious little girls went through.
I went down to dispatch later and listened to the recording of the call that came in. I found out the call taker was on the phone with the man who got shot. Apparently, the victim called the police when they started banging on the door. I could hear the bad guys tell him they were the police. They forced their way in, and he was screaming as they shot him. The call taker heard everything, all the way up to the gunshots. I was really upset because they didn’t tell me. That’s when the dispatcher called the other officer off the call. I was never informed. I should’ve been told about the situation but in Fort Worth at the time that was the atmosphere. We were short of officers and it’s what had to be done. Send the officers in no matter what.
Everyone made their reports and filled out the proper paperwork. In the months following the incident I checked on the girls and the case. I don’t know that the girls will ever be “okay” again. The night had to leave a lasting scar on their memories.
Turns out it was all about narcotics. The bad guys were really after the guy in the kitchen but shot the wrong guy. They shot the girl’s dad who had nothing to do with it. The guy in the kitchen was a friend of the man who got shot. The dead guy let the drug guy stay with him for a few days. The bad guys shot the girl’s dad and figured out he was the wrong person. They then went after the other guy and cut him when for some reason they decided it was time to leave. On the recording you can hear the guys saying let’s get out of here in Spanish. It wasn’t seconds later they were in their car, and I was coming around the corner.
Funny how fate or God takes care of you sometimes. Just a few seconds earlier and I could’ve been in the middle of the whole thing. I’m sure many more people would’ve gotten hurt or killed. I tried to keep up with the case, but they never found anyone. Guys like that always end up in prison though. They go along until their luck runs out. I always wondered what happened to those beautiful girls. Thinking about it today I get upset. I hope they ended up with a good life.
