Gunfire hits commercial airliner near cockpit as plane taxis before takeoff — and shocked passengers speak out



A bullet hit a Southwest Airlines plane near the cockpit as the flight was taxiing for takeoff at Dallas Love Field on Friday night, KXAS-TV reported.

An airport spokesperson told the station the gunfire forced an evacuation of the flight, and KXAS added that Dallas Police are looking for whoever pulled the trigger.

'The fact that it hit so very close to the cockpit seems too much of a coincidence.'

Flight 2494 was struck around 8:30 p.m., KXAS said, citing the Federal Aviation Administration, which added that the plane — which was taxiing for takeoff to Indianapolis — returned to the gate where passengers deplaned.

Police told the station they responded to a shooting call around 9:48 p.m., and no one was hurt.

The runway was temporarily closed Friday night while police conducted their investigation, KXAS added.

A Southwest spokesperson told the station the plane was removed from service.

Police said they're leading the investigation, KXAS reported, adding an FBI airport liaison agent has been assigned to work with police "and other federal partners as deemed necessary."

'A rattle outside of the plane'

The station spoke to Shannon and Jamie Lee who were aboard the flight with two of their children; the couple told KXAS everything seemed normal until they heard the pilot on the loudspeaker.

"He said there's a rattle outside of the plane, and they needed to return back to the gate," Jamie Lee recalled to the station.

The couple told KXAS the pilot said the plane needed to be checked to determine if it was functional — then added that the front of the plane was damaged, and everyone would have to deplane.

The Lees told the station everyone was calm.

"We had no idea that something happened," Shannon Lee told KXAS. "We thought Southwest had missed something in an inspection or something, you know ... a normal mechanical issue."

The couple and their two sons didn't find out about the gunfire until they landed in Indianapolis around 2:30 a.m. and encountered a news crew, the station station said.

“I had my son with me. He was sitting in the window seat. ... And we were just in row 13. So, we were pretty close to the cockpit," Shannon Lee added to KXAS.

While the Lees told the station they're grateful for the way Southwest handled the initial sharing of information with passengers, they believe they should have been told what happened before getting on another flight.

"I was surprised that they had shut the runway, not really knowing if there were potentially other shots being fired or where the shot could have even come from," Jamie Lee told KXAS.

Had they known the plane was shot at, the couple told the station they likely would have gone home that night and delayed their flight another day — or flown out of DFW International Airport instead.

"You have to give people a choice, whether they want to put their safety at risk a second time in one night," Shannon Lee told KXAS.

The Lees added to the station that they want to find out what investigators uncover and what safety improvements may result before walking away from one of their favorite airports and airlines.

"We fly quite a bit ... and ... our kids fly on their own," Shannon Lee told KXAS. "So, it is concerning."

The station said Southwest sent the Lees an email apology as well as a voucher toward a future flight.

'Holy cow'

Armen Kurdian — a retired Navy captain and Naval flight officer — told KXAS his "first thought is like, 'Holy cow, somebody just shot a gun, and it hit a commercial aircraft!"

Kurdian added to the station that investigators will start by figuring out where the bullet came from: "So, what was the orientation of the aircraft when it was actually hit? How deep did the bullet penetrate? That'll tell you what its speed was. And that'll give you an idea of the range from which it was fired."

Kurdian added to KXAS they'll also be looking into whether or not the shot was intentional: "The fact that it hit so very close to the cockpit seems too much of a coincidence. The odds of that happening, I think, got to be really, really high."

He also told the station that the damage could be wide-ranging — from something small like an inoperative light switch to something bigger, such as the GPS system not working.

"Now, if [the bullet] hits something more vital, say like a hydraulic system, then the pilots would be alerted rather quickly that there would be ... a pressure drop in the hydraulic system," Kurdian added to KXAS.

He noted to the station that such airliners have a lot of backup systems, and it's likely a bullet to the cockpit would not have caused a crash — but the whole ordeal presents a security vulnerability.

"Did this put an idea into, say, a non-state or a state actor as, 'Oh, maybe this is something we can do to disrupt air travel'?" Kurdian wondered to KXAS.

He added to the station that it would be wise for the airport and other agencies to look into safety measures.

"So, does it mean random sweeps outside of the airport while flight operations are going on?" Kurdian asked the KXAS. "Does it mean that there [are] going to be more physical barricades or basically physical barriers — not just fences but things that you actually can't see through, concrete — around the airport?"

You can view a video report here about the incident.

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Dallas County appears to quietly modify online 'sample' ballots after concerns of voter-fraud risk



On Thursday evening, the Dallas County Elections Department seemingly made quiet modifications to online sample ballots following allegations that the downloadable PDFs were, in fact, actual voter ballots.

Barry Wernick, a Republican running for Texas House District 108, filed a complaint with the Texas secretary of state on Tuesday after he claimed he discovered his actual ballot was posted online, Blaze News previously reported. He stated that anyone with a Dallas County voter's first and last name and date of birth could pull up a downloadable, printable ballot.

'Not locked, encrypted, or watermarked in any way.'

Wernick explained that when trying to view his sample ballot on the DCED's website, he was redirected to Clarity Elections, an election night reporting portal operated by SOE Software.

"After clicking on the link & being transferred to the Clarity Elections portal, instead of seeing a sample ballot, I viewed a downloadable & printable .pdf file of my actual die-cut mail-in ballot with a colored stamp of the initials (HG) of Election Administrator Heider Garcia," Wernick stated.

A screenshot of Wernick's supposed sample ballot featured Garcia's initials at the bottom corner and time marks in the margins. He noted that the ballot was "not locked, encrypted, or watermarked in any way."

Wernick warned that someone could "easily and legally print out or digitally manipulate that voter's ballot" and then "illegally and potentially surreptitiously inject it into the system thereby disenfranchising and diluting" voters.

On Thursday morning, Blaze News replicated Wernick's process to access his ballot by using the information of another Texas voter, a Blaze Media employee who lives in Dallas County, producing identical results. The online ballot did not have a "sample" watermark; it included timing marks and featured Garcia's signed initials, just like Wernick's.

However, Blaze News repeated the process on Thursday evening, yielding a different result. This time, the Texas voter's ballot included a "sample" watermark and did not have any signed initials at the bottom.

Before Thursday evening:

Image Source: Blaze News

After Thursday evening:

Image Source: Blaze News

The DCED did not respond to requests for comment.

The Texas secretary of state told Blaze News, "I cannot speak to any formal election complaints because that information is considered private."

"I can point out that printing a sample ballot does not provide a means for it to be inserted into the election process as there are checks for ballots both for in-person voting and voting by mail. There is not a way for voters to use a sample ballot in place of a regular ballot," the secretary of state stated.

SOE Software President Jonathan Brill told Blaze News, "I am only aware of this matter from your email, and I haven't directly connected with the Dallas County Elections."

"I can tell you, however, that our software is not built for, nor does it have anything to do with voted ballots whatsoever, including tabulation," Brill continued. "Rather, we created and host Dallas County Election's website (including showing SAMPLE ballots) and then facilitate the reporting of results on Election Night. Said more simply, we have nothing to do with live ballots. Our system only presents sample ballots."

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Shocking voter-fraud risk: Dallas County ballots allegedly accessible online



Barry Wernick, a Republican running for Texas House District 108, reported Tuesday that he filed a complaint with the Texas secretary of state against the Dallas County Elections Department after he claimed he found his actual ballot posted online.

Wernick, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, shared the news on X, explaining how he made the shocking discovery.

'Irreparable damage may have already been done.'

According to Wernick, he went to the DCED's website to view his sample ballot and was redirected to the Clarity Elections portal.

Clarity Elections is an election night reporting portal that is operated by SOE Software.

"After clicking on the link & being transferred to the Clarity Elections portal, instead of seeing a sample ballot, I viewed a downloadable & printable .pdf file of my actual die-cut mail-in ballot with a colored stamp of the initials (HG) of Election Administrator Heider Garcia," Wernick stated.

Wernick shared a screenshot of Garcia's initials at the bottom of the ballot. He noted that the online ballot's markings were consistent with an actual ballot and not a sample.

The images of the online ballot were "not locked, encrypted, or watermarked in any way," Wernick added.

He called for the DCED to immediately take the ballots offline.

"Because there is no law against publishing an actual mail-in ballot, anyone with access to a registered voter's legal first name and last name and the same voter's birth date could easily and legally print out or digitally manipulate that voter's ballot," he continued. "Then that person could illegally and potentially surreptitiously inject it into the system thereby disenfranchising and diluting my vote, in this instance, and any other registered voter's vote without getting caught."

Wernick added, "Irreparable damage may have already been done. But enjoining Dallas County Elections Department from publishing this information could mitigate any future potential damage to our election system."

Blaze News replicated the process Wernick used to access his ballot by using another Texas voter's information. The results were identical: The ballot displayed online lacked a "sample" watermark, included timing marks, and featured Garcia's initials at the bottom, just like Wernick's.

Rick Weible, who appeared in Dinesh D'Souza's documentary "Vindicating Trump" and has repeatedly attempted to expose the vulnerabilities of the Election Systems & Software accumulator, said, "This ballot can be printed and used for swaps and injections ... no timing marks or initials should be on any sample ballot."

In a statement to Blaze News, the Texas secretary of state said, “I cannot speak to any formal election complaints because that information is considered private.”

“I can point out that printing a sample ballot does not provide a means for it to be inserted into the election process as there are checks for ballots both for in-person voting and voting by mail. There is not a way for voters to use a sample ballot in place of a regular ballot,” the secretary of state added.

The Dallas County Elections Department and SOE Software did not respond to a request for comment.

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Dallas City Council Violates Texas Constitution In Attempts To Secretly Derail Police Funding, New Lawsuit Says

'a desperate attempt to mask their misleading language'

Dallas communities on edge after 2 apparent child abduction attempts caught on video in broad daylight on same day



Parents in the Dallas area are on edge after two apparent child abduction attempts were caught on video the same day this week.

The apparent child abduction attempts both happened Monday within hours and miles of each other, but law enforcement said it doesn't see any evidence the alleged kidnapping attempts are related.

'Either incident could have resulted in tragedy.'

The first abduction attempt happened around 8:20 a.m. in the suburb of Richardson.

A freshman girl was walking to the J.J. Pearce High School campus when she noticed a motorist following her.

The frightened girl rang the doorbell of a home in the area.

Shane Burke answered the door and let the teen into his house.

Burke told KXAS-TV, "She initially hid behind our car to see if he was coming back and sure enough, here he came really slow, and again, she was really smart. She did all the right things. When I opened the door, she started explaining that someone has been following her. She was really shaky.”

He added, "I don’t think he was saying anything [to the child]. She said, 'He keeps going by real slow back and forth on the street and staring at me, and I’m not comfortable.'"

"I don’t know what this guy’s motive was or what he was up to, but she said she didn’t know him; he wasn’t an ex-boyfriend, or a family member, or anything, so whatever," Burke said. "This is serious. This was a close call. Fortunately, she did all the right things."

Burke’s wife drove the girl to school.

Burke checked his home's surveillance camera and noticed video showed a car going back and forth on the street.

Burke notified police and provided them with the chilling video.

Richardson Police spokesman Mike Wieczorek said the suspect's vehicle is a black or dark blue 2014-2016 4-door Toyota Corolla S. Police described the suspect as being bald, between 20 and 30 years old, with dark skin and is possibly Latino.

A male is seen on surveillance video jumping out of the passenger side of the vehicle and chasing after the boy who was running back to the house.

The Richardson Independent School District wrote a letter telling parents to tell their children that "if anything out of the ordinary occurs on the way to or from school, run to a safe place and report it to a trusted adult, staff member, or parent immediately."

A second apparent kidnapping attempt happened around 2:40 p.m. in nearby Far North Dallas.

Genna Skolnik said her sons were playing near their home with their friends when "I hear the door fly open and I hear: 'Jay’s being kidnapped! Jay’s being kidnapped!" Skolnik said she initially thought it was a prank.

But Skolnik recalled a disturbing detail: "The guys in the car were telling them: 'Hey, come talk to us, check out our car.' One of the boys was totally spooked and said, 'We need to run.'"

"They were calling to my son saying: ‘Hey, we have a football player in the car. Like, you should come talk to him,'" Skolnik recalled, adding that her son said, "I don’t talk to strangers!" With that, she said the driver put the car in reverse, and her son "started running."

A male is seen on surveillance video jumping out of the passenger side of the vehicle and chasing after the boy who was running back to the house. The male abruptly stopped when he noticed the concerned mother on the porch recording him with her cellphone.

"I just wanted to take the picture and chase him back, but I wanted to get the boys inside first," Skolnik explained, adding that she was able to capture a photo of the vehicle's license plate number.

The Dallas Police Department said in a press release: "The preliminary investigation determined a group of children were outside when they were approached by a young Hispanic male in a white SUV, asking one of the children to look at something in the back of his vehicle."

Dallas Police identified the vehicle as a Toyota Four-Runner. Investigators are also looking at a dark-colored Chevy pickup truck caught on video that also could have been involved in the apparent attempted kidnapping.

Council Member Cara Mendelsohn of District 12 in northern Dallas was "shocked" over the apparent attempted child abductions.

"I am thankful no child was hurt. Either incident could have resulted in tragedy,” Mendelsohn wrote on the X social media platform.

According to data from the crime analytics dashboard for the city of Dallas, there have been 122 kidnappings or abductions this year — a 14% increase compared to the same period in 2023. There have been 57 crimes of human trafficking committed this year in Dallas.

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Thug swings '5-foot-long tree branch' like baseball bat, bashing man in back of head in horrific, unprovoked attack



An unidentified male took a swing with a "5-foot-long tree branch" like it was a baseball bat, bashing a man in the back of his head in a horrific, unprovoked attack in Dallas over the weekend. You can view surveillance video of the attack here.

The victim, Adam Mercado, and his girlfriend, Taylor Monnet, were in downtown Dallas early Saturday morning and decided to meet friends at City Tavern, KXAS-TV reported.

'I always have my guard up; make sure you keep your head on a swivel — because for 10 seconds, I let my guard down, and this happened.'

“As we were walking up, I noticed a gentleman holding a big stick, kind of looking like a spear,” Mercado told KXAS. “And initially, my senses were going crazy, my intuition was going crazy, so I said, 'You know what, let’s go inside and get a drink.'”

Around 2 a.m., the couple decided to leave and were on the patio outside the tavern when the attack happened, the station said.

“And that’s when I felt it,” Mercado recounted to KXAS. “The sound was loud enough to almost be a gunshot. That’s what scared me.”

Video shows the male walking through the patio and stopping behind Mercado when he took a swing with the stick — which Mercado called a "5-foot-long tree branch" in a YouTube video description. A piece of the stick broke off when the male hit Mercado in the back of his head, after which Mercado fell to the ground.

Video also shows the attacker punching another man — a City Tavern employee, KXAS said — who came over in an apparent attempt to intervene, knocking him to the ground before the suspect took off. Dallas police told the station investigators had not yet identified the suspect.

Monnet is seen on the clip trying to get assistance for her boyfriend, telling KXAS that she was "running into the bar, and I’m screaming, just begging for help from anyone.”

The couple told the station that they turned down an ambulance ride due to the possible financial cost. “Eventually went to the hospital a few hours later because my head, my ears, everything was ringing, I was sore,” Mercado recalled to KXAS. “And I knew that I had to get checked out.”

The station said Mercado was diagnosed with a concussion, after which he experienced lingering pain and brain fog — along with fears about leaving their apartment in the wake of the attack.

“It’s just been really traumatic, you know, I’ve never had any type of violence done unto me,” he told KXAS. “Very surreal.”

Due to his expectation of a large hospital bill after a number of scans, and because he can't work for a little while, WFAA-TV said Mercado set up a GoFundMe page to help defray costs.

He added a warning to others who are out and about like he was, WFAA noted: "I always have my guard up; make sure you keep your head on a swivel — because for 10 seconds, I let my guard down, and this happened."

You can view video of an interview with Mercado and Monnet here.

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Dallas School District Wants Parents Sent To The Principal’s Office When Their Kids Are Naughty

To solve the problem of misbehavior, district officials are recommending classes on solving the problem of misbehavior.

BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales exposes 'grooming and indoctrination' at the Dallas Pride all-ages event



Saturday marked the beginning of a month — and in some cases, a season — that LGBT activists across the West have devoted to the capital vice, pride. As in past years, the heart of Texas has not gone untouched by this devotion.

Over the weekend, activists once again took to the streets of Dallas to proudly signal their support for all things non-straight.

The Dallas Pride Committee indicated in its guidebook that this year's festivities were dedicated to transvestites who are supposedly "a visible target for extremists — from the halls of Congress to the state legislatures to the streets."

BlazeTV host and Defend Our Kids: Texas executive director Sara Gonzales went to the Dallas Pride Music Festival to get a better sense of the varieties of agitprop and obscenities Texan activists decided to expose minors to this time around.

The guidebook advertised "age-appropriate entertainment" at the Dallas Pride Music Festival's so-called Teen Pride and Family Pride Zone.

'There was no 'adults only' area — all the graphic content I captured was from the main event.'

Teen Pride subjected teens 13 and older to transvestite performers in highly sexualized costumes, "a dedicated area for Trans services and organization," and "empowerment discussions by Trust the Process" — a panel discussion centered on encouraging confused children to disassociate with their respective biological realities.

"The entire festival was billed as 'family friendly,' including the parade in which the announcer called people 'sluts' and made jokes about male genitalia," Gonzales told Blaze News. "There was no 'adults only' area — all the graphic content I captured was from the main event, where children were present and welcomed."

Gonzales shared footage of the supposedly family-friendly festivities on her show, "Sara Gonzales Unfiltered," as well as on X, revealing kids were exposed to various degrees of vulgarity and sexualized exhibitions.

The amplified voice of a speaker at the festival can be heard in the video saying, "Where are my bisexuals? They're not really bisexual. They're just sluts."

Later in the video, an event speaker says to the all-ages crowd, "Oh, Cox Automotive," referencing a DEI-captive company apparently advertised nearby. "Cox. Well, you're in good company. Except for the ladies who are a little grossed out by that."

Gonzales also captured images of children and families ambling by LGBT merchandise and banners emblazoned with the words, "Boo, you whore!"; "Is dick a carb?"; "F*** you"; "over worked & under f***ed"; "you my friends should have been swallowed"; "p***y power"; and "Slut." There was, of course, also LGBT activist apparel targeted at children, including rainbow "Paw Patrol" gear and transvestite flag T-shirts.

'Because it's not family friendly. It's not even adult friendly.'

Gonzales told Blaze News that the "overwhelming majority of children were attending the event with what appeared to be single mothers."

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"You know what's so funny?" Gonzales said on her BlazeTV show. "Every time I go, I'm like, 'I hate going to this.' I feel like I need an exorcism every time I leave. ... I don't understand how they can get away with saying this is 'family-friendly.' I go to the family friendly festivals. I go to them. I have never once seen any of this. None of it. None of it."

"I have never seen flags that say, 'P***y power.' Sorry, edit. Yeah, you're going to have to mute that," continued Gonzales. "You know why? Because it's not family friendly. It's not even adult friendly. I've never been to an all-ages family-friendly festival that has fans with the c-word on it or people dressed like that."

Minnesota state Rep. Walter Hudson (R) said in response to Gonzales' video, "It's 'family friendly' because, like with so many things, they've appropriated the word, changed its definition, and smuggled in the substitute without telling you. To them, 'family' means queer. So, they're just saying queer-friendly. It's that simple."

BlazeTV host Steve Deace responded with an illustration of Carthaginian child sacrifice.

Christin Bentley, Texas state Republican executive committeewoman for Senate District 1, noted, "If you think this is 'family friendly' ... you're a degenerate."

"The LGBT festivals happening across the country this month are just a reminder of how far society has degraded," Gonzales told Blaze News. "What was once unthinkable to bring children to participate in is now celebrated by the left. There is nothing else to call it other than grooming and indoctrination — and quite frankly, child abuse."

Defend Our Kids: Texas, the initiative Gonzales helms, is actively working to stop the sexualization of children in the Lone Star State, "whether it be from drag story hour for toddlers or pornographic literature in school libraries."

Gonzales emphasized that "our children are under attack."

'The quicker they can poison young minds, the more chaos they can create within the family unit.'

"While we were largely successful last session in getting several critical bills passed, there is more work to be done to ensure Texas children are free from the exploitation and sexualization from adults — whether it be parents, teachers, Pride parades, or otherwise."

The BlazeTV host indicated that the Pride-themed campaign underway is "straight out of the Communist Manifesto: a move to destroy the nuclear family."

"The quicker they can poison young minds, the more chaos they can create within the family unit," said Gonzales. "They very much want your children, and they've said as much. It is up to us to be vigilant and stop it."

While the Biden administration and corporations nationwide continue to lean into their respective pride devotions, it appears the general public is fast losing its appetite for the LGBT agenda.

After interviewing over 22,000 American adults for its so-called American Values Atlas last year, the Public Religion Research Institute found that support for LGBT policies had dropped for the first time. PBS News reported that support for homosexual "marriage" dropped by 2 percentage points; support for nondiscrimination protections dropped by 4 points; and opposition to Americans refusing services based on their deeply held religious convictions dropped 5 points.

In Canada, where the Trudeau government celebrates "Pride Season," a recent Ipsos survey indicated there were "precipitous drops" in support for so-called LGBT rights. Support for overt displays of sexual preferences and so-called gender identity dropped by 12% since 2021.

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Salon Owner Jailed For Violating COVID Lockdown Unseats Incumbent In State House Primary

'I have hairstylists that are going hungry'

Blaze News' Steve Baker released from courthouse after arrest over his Jan. 6 reporting — and notables have been reacting



Blaze News investigative journalist Steve Baker has been released from a federal courthouse in Dallas after his arrest earlier Friday over his Jan. 6 reporting:

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Baker also spoke to BlazeTV's Steve Deace after his release:

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What are the details?

Baker — who for years has been searching for the truth about Jan. 6, 2021, and believes the U.S. government has been targeting him for it — on Friday was charged with four misdemeanors related to his Jan. 6 coverage at the U.S. Capitol after turning himself in to the FBI in Dallas.

But first he was handcuffed and perp-walked:

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The charges are:

  • Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority
  • Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds
  • Disorderly conduct in a capitol building
  • Parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building

BlazeTV contributor Jill Savage noted Friday that she exited the courtroom with Baker, who "was able to wear his dress clothes but had shackles on his wrists and ankles. He is expected to be released today. His next hearing is set in DC for March 14th."

Baker learned of the charges for the first time Friday and earlier this week told Blaze News that the powers that be wouldn't tell his attorney about the charges because they believed Baker would post them on social media.

Baker's Dallas attorney, James Lee Bright, added to Blaze News that withholding the nature of the charges against his client was a "really unusual" move.

Bright told Blaze News that he's "disturbed" about what's happening with his client, especially given that Baker has been "in full compliance" all this time. Bright also said the federal government "three-plus years later going after people who were legitimate functioning journalists that day" appears designed to have an "absolute chilling effect."

Baker added that when he asked his other attorney, William Shipley, why the federal government is treating him like this, Shipley replied, "You know why. You've been poking them in the eye for three years."

'This is truly outrageous'

Baker's arrest and charges have been getting a ton of attention — and notable individuals have been weighing in:

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