Suspect charged after Richardson officer shooting shuts Belt Line Road

A robbery call in Richardson turned a busy stretch of East Belt Line Road into a crime scene Monday afternoon, with both directions of Belt Line closed for hours between North Plano Road and North St. Johns Drive after officers exchanged gunfire with an armed suspect.

Richardson police said officers were dispatched at about 4 p.m. to a robbery in progress at a business in the 1400 block of East Belt Line Road. When they arrived, they were told the suspect had run off on foot and was reportedly armed. Officers then found a person matching the suspect’s description walking east of the business, and an attempted contact escalated into an officer-involved shooting.

Police said the suspect fired at least one round before officers returned fire and struck him multiple times. He was later identified as 38-year-old Jarvis Martel Hamlin and was charged with aggravated robbery and attempted capital murder of a peace officer. Hamlin was taken to a nearby hospital and was reported in stable condition on May 5. No officers were injured.

The closure cut off a heavily traveled corridor in north Richardson and drew a visible law-enforcement response near businesses along Belt Line Road. Crime scene tape stretched around the area near Dave’s Hot Chicken, and a witness, Daniel Abdollahi, said he heard two to three shots and saw a handgun during the incident.

The Dallas County District Attorney’s office will handle an independent investigation, and the officer involved has been placed on administrative leave. With the suspect hospitalized, the criminal case and the review of the shooting now move forward as Richardson police continue to process what happened along one of the city’s busiest commercial streets.