A young soldier shot and wounded his wife outside a Dallas-area store and then gunned down a father of three who tried to intervene, authorities say.
Arlington police say Anthony “T.J.” Antell Jr., 35, saw Ricci Bradden shoot at the feet of his wife during an argument Monday outside of a Walgreens where she works, striking her once. She fled inside the store to call for help.
Antell retrieved a handgun from his vehicle and confronted Bradden in an attempt to make a citizen’s arrest, but Bradden managed to slap it away and then fatally shot Antell, investigators say.
“What was really traumatic, the Good Samaritan’s spouse was here and witnessed this,” police Lt. Chris Cook told WFAA-TV. “I can’t imagine going through that.”
Bradden, a 22-year-old Army private, drove away and later turned himself in to authorities. At one point, he called his commanders at Fort Hood and confessed, according to an arrest warrant.
Bradden’s wife, Quinisha Johnson, told WFAA on Tuesday that he came to the store because he was upset by a selfie she posted on social media that he thought made it seem she was seeking attention.
“And I was trying to explain it to him, that I married you. You’re all the attention that I needed,” she told the station. “And I could feel that he was getting mad, so I tried to walk off, and that’s when I heard him pull the gun out.”
The couple had only been married about two months.
Bradden was being held Tuesday at the Hill County jail on a murder charge. Jail records didn’t indicate if he had an attorney yet, a sheriff’s official said.
Cook said it’s difficult to determine when an armed Samaritan should intervene in a deadly situation, The Dallas Morning News reported.
“Any time that you can be the best witness you can be, we always recommend that,” he said. “Sometimes things turn out like this when you’re trying to stop a bad guy.”
Antell was a fitness enthusiast and owned a CrossFit gym.
“T.J. Antell lost his journey of life very suddenly today in a very heroic act of courage for the well-being of other people,” said the family’s pastor, Marc Lowrance of Saint John the Apostle United Methodist Church in Arlington. “He went out of this world on top.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Does this mean Trump is going to ban soldiers from the US now?!
More and more we are seeing that when a Black man has a gun “Any lives don’t matter”.
Ricci and Quinisha: don’t know the color, but I can guess with pretty good odds. Where do they come up with names like Quinisha … a Scrabble game?
With names like “Quinisha” and “Ricci” I can only guess, but with pretty good odds. Do they think these names up in Scrabble games?
The “Good Samaritan” was not prepared to intervene in any situation. You do NOT pull a gun that you are not ready and willing to use IMMEDIATELY!
He got WAY too close to the shooter when he allowed the shooter to knock the gun out of his hand.
Too many errors on the ‘samaritan’s’ part.
excellent summation. Obviously the Pvt was a young soldier. As a former cop, domestic violence is very critical to many police officers.