At about 11:00 a.m. on Monday, suspected Dallas airport shooter Portia Odufuwa, 37, arrived at Dallas Love Field airport after being dropped off by an Uber driver. Odufuwa walked into the airport and lingered by the Southwest Airlines ticket counter before entering a bathroom to change into a hooded sweatshirt, police said. She then returned to the check-in counters and produced a handgun.
The 37 year-old woman fired three rounds into the ceiling. A police officer appeared to have been roughly 10 feet away from the suspect when she began firing. Video footage shows the officer falling back behind a self-service kiosk before firing at the suspected shooter and wounding her leg.
Odufuwa was treated for her leg wound following the incident. She was charged with aggravated assault against a public servant and may face other charges.
Dallas Officer Ronald Cronin, who has been a police officer for 15 years, shot Odufuwa and is being hailed as a hero who “saved lives.”
"In situations like the one we had at Love Field yesterday, our men and women must also be warriors. That is what Officer Cronin was,” said Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia of Cronin. “He didn’t hesitate in engaging, managing to give commands to potential victims, attempting to guide them to safety even after being involved in the most traumatic scenario of our beloved profession. I know his actions saved lives and prevented more injuries.”
“To note, the suspect has been prohibited from possessing a firearm since August of 2018,” added Garcia.
Prior to the shooting, Odufuwa had a criminal history including arson, bank robbery, criminal trespassing, as well as false reporting. Court records also revealed that the 37 year-old allegedly threatened a hotel front desk clerk with a gun in April 2021 while she was homeless. She provided police with the address of R&B artist Chris Brown’s mansion, whom she falsely claimed was her husband during a previous incident.
That incident occurred in October of 2019, when she burned a Texas home to the ground. Odufuwa said she had intentionally set the house on fire after attempting to do so on other occasions, claiming it was once her residence. She told officers she was “God’s prophet” before asking for an attorney and admitting to the arson. Odufuwa was also accused of committing a bank robbery at a Bank of America in Wylie, Texas.
"(The suspect) started to ramble, talking about a marriage, incarceration and that she was going to blow up the airport and then pull a handgun from her sweatshirt," Garcia said of Monday’s incident.
Odufuwa was found incompetent to stand trial for the bank robbery charges, and the case was then dismissed when she underwent treatment for mental health. For her crime in April of 2021, a Dallas County judge ruled that she was incompetent to stand trial after she was unable to consult with a lawyer. The judge ruled that she was not a danger to others but ordered her to attend psychological counseling as well as to live in a house that would be organized by a healthcare provider.