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DeSoto police release bodycam video of officer who fatally shot Dallas ISD teacher

DeSoto police on Friday released video recorded from a camera worn on the body of an officer who earlier in the week shot to death a man holding a sharpened piece of metal.

The video shows the officer approaching Michael Nunez as the civilian was on a sidewalk. A woman had called 911 to report that a man she did not know had about 11:45 a.m. Monday entered her house through an unlocked door and was in the kitchen. The man left the house in the 300 block of Polk Street and was outdoors when an officer arrived.

The officer fired upon Nunez, 47, within seconds of their encounter when Nunez charged with the metal item in his hand toward the officer.

No audio was recorded before or during the shooting.

Nunez was pronounced dead at the scene.

The day before, Nunez acted irrationally in a park, DeSoto police said. He knocked over trash cans and was arrested on suspicion of littering, jailed and released on Monday.

Nunez was a Dallas Independent School District employee. He was a teacher at Moises E. Molina High School in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, police said

A Dallas school district spokesperson said Nunez was a special education teacher who worked with students who needed extra help. He worked for the district from June 2003 to October 2020, then until he returned to work at Molina High School in August 2022. During his first 17 years with the district, Nunez worked at a different campus. The spokesperson said that, according to the principal of Molina High School, the general consensus on campus was a reaction of shock because the events police described seemed so out of character for Nunez.

The police department did not release the officer’s name.

The Grand Prairie Police Department and the Dallas County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Division are investigating the death.