Dallas police recently shot and wounded a mentally deranged armed woman who threatened to blow up the Dallas Love Field Airport.
According to Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia, 37-year-old Portia Odufuwa fired three shots with a handgun near the airport’s ticket counter — two at the ceiling and one in the direction of an officer — before she was shot herself.
The woman was then transported to the Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas and remains in stable condition after undergoing surgery.
According to an affidavit obtained by media outlets, witnesses claimed that Odufuwa was telling people that rapper Chris Brown was her “husband” prior to the shooting.
Odufuwa then shouted, “I am going to blow this [expletive] up,” before firing the shots at the ceiling and toward the officer.
Investigators later found a bullet stuck in the kiosk where an officer had taken cover, indicating that she was aiming to hit the officer. She faces charges of aggravated assault against a public servant.
Garcia said the officer, identified as 15-year police veteran Ronald Cronin, fired eight to nine rounds, hitting Odufuwa in the lower body and causing her to fall to the ground.
Odufuwa had taken an Uber to the airport at around 11 a.m., according to the police chief.
She allegedly walked past a Southwest Airlines ticket counter before entering a bathroom, and stayed there for about five minutes before exiting with a black sweatshirt on and a hood pulled over her head.
She then said she had an announcement to make and began speaking incoherently about her marriage and incarceration. At that point, she pulled out the gun and began firing.
Thankfully, no one was injured in the shooting.
Airport video surveillance later confirmed the chief’s statements. The footage showed Officer Cronin taking cover behind a ticket kiosk a few feet from Odufuwa. He then ordered her to drop her weapon.
Cronin, referred to by Garcia as a “guardian and a warrior,” said her appearance on exiting the bathroom raised his suspicions.
“I can’t teach bravery or courage. I know his actions saved lives,” Garcia added.
Investigators still do not know Odufuwa’s motive or where she obtained the handgun, which she was prohibited from owning. Garcia said she was prohibited from owning weapons since she was charged with attempted robbery at a Bank of America in 2019.
She was also arrested in the past for arson after setting a house on fire, and has had a restraining order filed against her.
“I am God’s prophet, and I need an attorney, but I’m basically letting you all know that I am the cause of this fire,” she told an officer after the fire.
This also wasn’t her first time being arrested at Love Field. In 2020, Odufuwa was arrested by an officer at Love Field for disorderly conduct and was transported after for a mental health evaluation.
The FBI and ATF are currently assisting in the investigation.
Rockwall Police Chief Max Geron, a former Dallas Police Department commander, tweeted at the time that he “just got evacuated out of Love Field after an apparent shooting. Family is safe. TSA did a great job.”
