The incident happened about 1:45 a.m. on Friday, 12 September 2025, in Grand Prairie, Texas. Grand Prairie is midway between Fort Worth and Dallas, on the east side of Arlington. Police officers of the Grand Prairie Police Department went to the wrong address for a disturbance call. Officers said they knocked on the door of a Holly Hills Drive home for about five minutes.
The home-renter, Thomas Simpson, a husband and father, said he did not know what was going on. He suspected criminal activity. He exited the house into the garage, then opened the garage door to investigate the situation. He was armed with a pistol.
Simpson told FOX 4 officers never announced themselves, and he thought they were criminals at first.
“They never say police department! But I recognized from the light the sign off the badge when the garage door got to a certain point. And that’s why I dropped my pistol. And okay, let’s figure this out. And then I get shot.”
Simpson says officers fired eight shots, which he believes is excessive.
Grand Prairie police dispute what happened. From nbcdfw.com:
When officers arrived, police said they knocked on the door for about five minutes from a “well illuminated area.” It was then that police said a man came out of the garage and “took an aggressive firing stance and pointed a firearm at officers.”
“Fearing for their lives,” police said, the officers shot at the person and hit him at least once in the leg.
Grand Prairie Police said the man’s injury was not severe and that he walked unassisted to an ambulance. The man was taken to an area hospital, treated and released.
Fortunately, the bullet did not hit bone, but passed through the fleshy upper part of the leg on the outside between the hip and the knee. There are large muscles there. It appears no artery was hit. Eventually, the officers realized they had been sent to the wrong address.
The Grand Prairie Police Department has stated that they will refer a case of aggravated assault against a police officer to the Dallas County District Attorney.
As a matter of policy, the Dallas County DA’s Officer-Involved Shooting Team is independently investigating the shooting. The Grand Prairie Police Department is conducting an administrative investigation, according to cbsnews.com:
The Grand Prairie Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards is conducting a concurrent administrative investigation.
In an interview with CBS News, Thomas Simpson says the entire family was detained for about four hours. One bullet hit a water pipe, flooding the house with three inches of water. From cbs.news.com:
The family was in the process of moving out of the rental home when the shooting occurred. They said one of the bullets ruptured a water pipe, flooding the house with three inches of water. Fortunately, most of their belongings had already been moved out.
Body camera coverage of the incident is said to be available. It has not been released to the public. What the body cameras show will be critical to the investigation.
Wrong address incidents never end well for the police or the innocent people caught up in the error. Texas has strong laws protecting people’s right to defend their homes and property, especially at night.
Exactly when the police realized they were at the wrong residence may become important, considering they held the entire family for four hours. It will be interesting to see if the police made any attempt to shut off the water or called a plumber to do so during that period.
Both the police and Thomas Simpson are fortunate that he was not maimed or killed in the incident.
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About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
Cops sure do some stupid stuff.
if they have nothing to hide why not release the bwc footage to the public? is there something on that footage that tells a different story then the one concocted by the gppd? does it show the resident taking an agressive stance or dropping his handgun?
i’m going to do some prognosticating here. i predict that neither the dallas county d.a’s office nor the gp police dept will find that their officers did anything wrong.
again, and they wonder why no one trusts them. our justice system is at the point of fubar.
ABOLISH QUALIFIED IMMUNITY!
I totally disagree with NO-KNOCK invasions. Cops screw up wayyyy to many times. Plus now the liberals are doing swatting. It’s my house. And if you go banging on a door at midnight expect a home owner to show up with a gun.
“The Grand Prairie Police Department has stated that they will refer a case of aggravated assault against a police officer to the Dallas County District Attorney.” So they go to the wrong address where they proceed to harass and assault the resident and his family and cause thousands in property damage. Then they have the audacity to charge the resident with a crime. This is how you know these government thugs are 100% guilty and screwed up big time. They’ll hit him with these ridiculous charges and then act like they’re doing him a favor by dropping them and hope… Read more »
Note to self, when LEO knocks on your door, don’t go outside armed or otherwise, don’t open the door for them, and only talk to LEO’s through the closed door.
There is no excuse for this negligence. “Wrong address” occurs far too frequently. These officers need to face felony charges.
Good thing cops are lousy shooters. “We investigated ourselves and found nothing. Carry on!”
They”investigate innocent people who did nothing, for 4 hours? 4 freakin hours?? 4 hours?What is wrong with these cops? Was the doughnut shop closed?
Welp there goes his deposit.
“a man came out of the garage and ‘took an aggressive firing stance and pointed a firearm at officers.’
‘Fearing for their lives,’ police said, the officers shot at the person and hit him at least once in the leg.”
A couple of things to discuss here. 1) If you’re firing a handgun, shouldn’t you BE in an “aggressive firing stance”? 2) All those shots & only one hit the victim?!