DALLAS — Fifteen days after he shot and killed the driver of a truck reported stolen out of Irving, a Farmers Branch officer was indicted on a murder charge.
The shooting happened as 43-year-old Michael Damien Dunn was monitoring the truck in a parking lot on June 12 at a Dallas shopping center. The man behind the wheel who was killed was 35-year-old Juan "Johnny" Moreno.
While the videos that captured the moment the Farmers Branch officer fired the fatal shots led to much social discussion, talk has now turned to the timeline after the shooting.
"I would consider that unusually fast to say the least," said George Milner, a long-time attorney and former prosecutor.
Milner said officer shootings usually take months to investigate and bring forward to the district attorney's office.
"On a high-profile case, handle it like any other case," he said. "And when you deviate from that it's going to bite you."
After the indictment, police unions wasted no time in their response. Union officials didn't discuss opinions on the officer's guilt or innocence but rather focused on a claim that the quick indictment may be the result of outside influences. They argued Thursday that there was no way an investigation into the shooting was completed in such a short time.
"It's a political machine that led to this," said Mike Mata, president of the Dallas Police Association. "I know for a fact they were attempting to prevent social unrest and protest."
The Dallas County District Attorney's Office has made an effort to push these cases through faster. The following statement was provided to WFAA from the office:
"As your Dallas County Criminal District Attorney, I made a promise to present officer-involved shooting cases to a grand jury as quickly as possible. The intent was to prevent these cases from lingering in the system for six months or longer. We want to either, clear officers so they can get back to work; or when a grand jury determines probable cause, proceed with a trial before a jury. The District Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit presented the case of a Farmer’s Branch Police Officer who was involved in a deadly shooting on June 12, 2019. Late yesterday, a Dallas County Grand Jury indicted Farmer’s Branch Police Officer Michael Dunn for murder in the death of Juan Moreno exactly two weeks to the day of the shooting. This restores confidence in the community that the system can work quickly, fairly, and efficiently. "
But is 15 days too fast? Mata with DPA says officers should be treated equally as any other citizen. He says there is no way basic tests for ballistics, toxicology or autopsy can be returned under such short timelines.
After an indictment, detectives and the DA continue to investigate cases.