First-Year Texas Cop Killed Investigating Domestic Assault

An Arlington (Texas) Police officer shot and killed investigating a domestic dispute Tuesday evening was found dead with the two people at the center of the dispute, according to the agency.

Officer Jillian Michelle Smith, 24, was sent to take a report on a domestic assault at 7:30 p.m. and given information that the suspect was not at the scene, spokeswoman Tiara Richard tells POLICE Magazine.

Officers responding to a shots-fired call at about 8 p.m. found Officer Smith dead at the Arbrook Park Apartments near Interstate 20 and Collins Street.

Smith was taking the report from Kimberly Deshay Carter, 29, when Barnes Samuel Nettles, 38, returned to the apartment, shot Carter and the officer, and then took his own life. Nettles was a registered sex offender.

Officer Smith had finished her field training Dec. 13, after graduating from the police academy in February. She earned a bachelor's degree in criminology from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2009.

The agency has about 660 sworn officers, and Officer Smith is the eighth line-of-duty death in the agency's history.