An arrest warrant described the moments leading up to a shooting New Year’s Eve at the South Plains Mall. No one was injured, according to police statements at the time. On Tuesday, police announced the arrest of a suspect – Detrick Lamar Montgomery, 30, of Lubbock.
Related Story: LPD Arrests Mall Shooting Suspect
Related Link: Witness Video: Fight, Shooting at South Plains Mall (warning, there is some bad language in the video)
Police were called on the mall on December 31 before 6:00 pm for the report of shots fired.
There was some sort of altercation inside a store. It then spilled out of the store near the children’s play area in the mall.
A witness said she saw one man tackle another. The man “that fell to the ground began shooting a firearm from the ground,” the eyewitness said.
Police were able to find surveillance video and described it like this: “D Montgomery is shooting in the direction of the children’s play area in the mall near JC Penney.”
“When he is shooting, there are families with children playing in the play area,” the arrest warrant said. It also said people were running for cover.
After the shooting, the suspect ran off and police then got a call to another location to talk to two people identified in the police report as victim 1 and victim 2. They were not physically injured, but they told police that Montgomery was shooting toward them.
The two victims are married to each other. The wife had a previous relationship with Montgomery, according to the warrant.
According to the warrant, the husband told police, “In 2015, D. Montgomery shot him in the leg while he was at the Four Seasons Party House.”
“He did not identify D. Montgomery as the shooter at the time because he didn’t want to send him to prison thereby taking him away from his children,” the warrant said.
The husband and wife ran into Montgomery at the mall and they tried to ignore him.
“Both advised that [the suspect] confronted them as he always does every time he sees them,” the warrant said. The victims said there was a verbal altercation and some pushing. The victims said Montgomery fell on the ground and then pulled a gun.
The victims told police that Montgomery fired five shots total.
The warrant said Montgomery had an “extensive criminal history,” and a previous conviction for family violence. The warrant said Montgomery was a convicted felon and it was therefore illegal for him to have a gun. He was also wanted for an indictment on drug-related charges.
Montgomery was held Tuesday in the Lubbock County Detention Center on a $350,000 bond for aggravated assault. He was also held on a $25,000 bond for possession of a controlled substance.
