Police: Arlington Officer Died Trying to Protect Child

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) _ Arlington police say a preliminary investigation shows that a 24-year-old officer responding to a call about domestic violence was shot to death by a man who then shot and killed his ex-girlfriend before killing himself.

Arlington police spokeswoman Tiara Ellis Richard says that it appears Officer Jillian Michelle Smith was shot as she was moving in the direction of the woman’s 11-year-old daughter in an effort to protect her.

Police identified the man as 38-year-old Barnes Samuel Nettles and the woman as 29-year-old Kimberly Deshay Carter.

Richard says that when the officer responded to the call, she believed that the man had left and did not know that he had a weapon.

Richard says Nettles had been arrested for an alleged assault on Carter’s sister and her mother in September.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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