45-year-old man arrested in Uptown Dallas homicide tied to fatal shooting in Balch Springs

A 45-year-old man arrested in connection with a fatal December shooting in Uptown Dallas is also tied to a fatal shooting in Balch Springs that took place just five days later, authorities said.

Dallas police arrested Corey Antwon Thompson on Dec. 27 on a murder charge in the fatal shooting of Roderick Butler, 46, seven days prior. Authorities in Balch Springs say Thompson is a suspect in a separate deadly shooting on Christmas Day.

“We can confirm that Corey Thompson’s vehicle, which is a 2007 white Lincoln [SUV], was at both crime scenes when the shootings occurred,” said Pedro Gonzalez, a Balch Springs police spokesman.

Officers responded to a shooting call about 5 p.m. Dec. 20 in the 2200 block of McKinney Avenue, near North Pearl Street, and found Butler shot on the sidewalk. Dallas police said he was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

The day after the shooting, police released photos asking for the public’s help in identifying a person brandishing a firearm and wearing blue gloves who they said was a suspect.

Balch Springs police officers responded to a shooting call a little after 4 a.m. on Christmas Day in the 11500 block of Small Drive in the city, about 11 miles southeast of downtown Dallas. When officers arrived, they found Francisco Jesus Manriquez, 28, sitting in the driver seat with multiple gunshot wounds to the head, police wrote in a news release.

Manriquez’s girlfriend told KDFW-TV she witnessed the shooting, which took place while she was being dropped off at her sister’s home. Police said she was sitting in the passenger seat of the car and not struck by gunfire.

Manriquez was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. According to the news release, police confirmed that the 2007 white Lincoln was in the area at the time of the fatal shooting, and the vehicle is registered to Thompson.

Gonzalez said Thompson does not face any charges in connection with the shooting because the department is waiting for Dallas police to process evidence before they can analyze it. This includes Thompson’s phone, the weapon Dallas police recovered during his arrest and his car.

According to Gonzalez, Rowlett police are working with authorities in Dallas to look at ballistic evidence for any potential links to Thompson in a third, separate shooting.

A person was shot at while sitting in their car at a traffic light a little before 8 a.m. Dec. 26. on the intersection of Rowlett and Miller roads, said Cpl. Jaqueline Vergara, a Rowlett police spokeswoman. Vergara said the victim was unharmed and told authorities the suspect vehicle was a white Lincoln SUV. However, detectives do not have any evidence at this point to tie Thompson to the incident, she said.

According to a Dallas County arrest-warrant affidavit, Dallas police had found that Thompson called the department Nov. 13 about someone “trying to kill him.” From reviewing body-cam footage of the incident, detectives found Thompson wore similar clothing as the day of the Uptown shooting, the affidavit said.

The affidavit also said Thompson was driving a “white Lincoln SUV-style vehicle with unreadable paper tags.”

After police released photos of a suspect, a woman called the department saying the person in the photo was the same person who attempted to rob them Dec. 16 in the 2200 block of Singleton Boulevard. She told officers the suspect was seen inside a white Lincoln.

Court records show Thompson was facing family violence assault, criminal mischief and terroristic threat charges in connection with different incidents. He was out on bond at the time of the recent shootings.

Thompson was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 1997, records show. He remains in Dallas County jail without bond.