Dallas shooting: when a gunman opened fire at a courthouse, photographer Tom Fox didn’t run … he pulled out his camera
- Tom Fox’s photos offer a rare in-the-moment glimpse of the type of shootings most Americans only see after the fact
A gunman clad in a mask, tactical gear and high-powered rifle opened fire outside a federal building in Dallas on Monday, causing alarm and panic but no injuries before the man was fatally shot by the police.
The shooting was reported widely. But perhaps the best documentation of the incident came from Tom Fox, a photographer for The Dallas Morning News.
Fox was there at the beginning of what would have been a typical day for any metro journalist: he was headed to the inauguration for the city’s new mayor but first stopped by the building, which houses a federal courthouse, to snap photos of a defendant in a case about charter school fraud.
So he was waiting right in front of the building when the gunman, whom authorities identified as former US Army infantryman Brian Isaack Clyde, showed up and opened fire.
Instead of running, Fox’s first instinct was to take photos.
The results offered a rare glimpse of an active shooting from the perspective of someone in the immediate path of danger.