Abilene Police Provide Details of Shootout at Downtown Abilene Hotel

ABILENE, TX — Abilene police briefed the media on what they can release so far in the shooting at the Civic Plaza Hotel in downtown Abilene in the 500 block of Pine Street, across from the Abilene Convention Center that happened early Saturday morning. Two suspects are in custody, and one is still at-large, police said. KTXS broke the story of the shootout just after 11 a.m. Saturday morning.

APD spokesman Sgt. Lynn Beard said at 12:31 a.m. early Saturday morning, multiple shots were fired outside the hotel. There were multiple 9-1-1 calls, and an APD patrol officer was just two blocks away and heard the shots himself. That officer was first on the scene.

As police arrived, APD said there was “chaos.” A crowd of people and fleeing suspects were witnessed. Two suspects were arrested when they were seen driving the wrong way down a one-way street, 5^th St. In a probable cause search of the vehicle during the ensuing traffic stop, a .380 handgun was discovered. The caliber of the handgun matched some of the casings recovered at the scene of the shooting, police said.

The gunfight was the result of one party taking money from another, Beard said. He did not go into details, other than to say it was over an attempted theft. “During the altercation, shots were fired,” Beard said. The .380 caliber handgun recovered from the two suspects fleeing in a Chevy Impala was a reported stolen firearm from a car burglary reported weeks ago, he said. In all, police recovered casings from three different types of firearms from the scene.

Two suspects, with their identification indicating they were residents of Clarksdale, Mississippi, were arrested and charged with deadly conduct. Each is in custody at the Taylor County Jail on a $75,000 bond each.

“This was extremely dangerous behavior,” APD’s Beard said.  “Once those bullets leave a handgun, they cannot come back.” Deadly conduct is a second-degree felony, punishable with 2-20 years in the state penitentiary if found guilty.

The arrested suspects are Jaucorian Cortez Davis, 18, and David Dion Jordan, 21, both of Clarksdale, Mississippi, a small farming community deep in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. APD said the suspects claimed an Abilene address when arrested, but their official identification indicated the Clarksdale residences. The suspects told police they had jobs in Abilene, and may have recently moved to west Texas.

APD said one person was injured and found by police when he arrived at Hendrick Medical Center complaining of a gunshot wound in his lower leg. He was treated and released. Police attempted to obtain information from the injured victim, but he was uncooperative and would not give any information, police said.

In the video of the shooting floating around on social media (and posted below), the man shooting the handgun is still on the loose, police said. “We have a good idea about who he is, but he is not currently in custody,” Beard said.

WATCH: Shootout at a downtown Abilene hotel, as posted when it happened by Chad Taillon on Facebook. KTXS reprted that Taillon was a bouncer at the party:

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Police said they are investigating the nature of the party at the old hotel. During the news conference, questions were raised about whether the party was in multiple motel rooms or a conference room. APD said this was under investigation.

Beard said the area around the hotel is known to police as a “fairly high crime area. We’re at the hotel frequently,” he said. Over the past year, APD, EMS, and the fire department have recorded about 300 calls to that area, he said.

In Abilene, a crime study revealed that violent crime was up 20 percent last year, Beard said.

KTXS carried the APD briefing on Facebook Live.