Investigators said the suspect ran after gunfire outside Red Bird Lanes, where one man was killed and a second victim later showed up at a hospital.
DUNCANVILLE, Texas — Duncanville police said a drone-guided search helped officers arrest a man early Sunday after a shooting outside a local bowling alley left one person dead and another seriously injured.
Officers were sent to Red Bird Lanes at about 12:03 a.m. April 12 after a reported shooting at the business on South Main Street. Police said they found an adult man with multiple gunshot wounds near the front entrance and rushed him to Methodist Charlton Medical Center, where he later died. As detectives were still processing the scene, a second gunshot victim arrived at the same hospital and was listed in serious but stable condition. Police identified the suspect as Torry Ray Smith and said he was arrested in an open field west of the 900 block of South Main Street after witnesses reported that the shooter ran from the area on foot.
The arrest drew attention not only because it came quickly, but because of how police said it happened. Duncanville officers established a perimeter around the surrounding blocks and brought in the department’s Drone as First Responder program as the search spread from the front of the bowling alley into nearby open ground. Police said the drone located Smith and directed officers to his position, allowing them to close in and arrest him. Investigators also said they recovered what they believe was the weapon used in the shooting near the place where he was taken into custody. In a statement released later Sunday, the department said it believed the violence was an isolated incident and that there was no continuing threat to the public. Even so, major parts of the case remained unclear, including what triggered the gunfire and how the second victim was shot.
The timeline laid out by police suggests a fast-moving scene with evidence split between the bowling alley and the hospital. The first victim was found near the entrance to Red Bird Lanes, a longtime Duncanville business on the 1114 block of South Main Street. Sometime after officers arrived there, dispatchers learned that another person with a gunshot wound had reached Methodist Charlton Medical Center on their own or with help from others. Police have not said where that second person was when the shots were fired, how far away the person was from the entrance, or whether that victim left before officers secured the area. They also have not said whether the second victim is expected to be a key witness. Those missing details leave open several possibilities, including whether both victims were struck in the same burst of gunfire or whether the sequence unfolded in stages as people scattered after the first shots.
Police have named Smith, 29, but have not released the name of the man who died. Local reports identified Smith as being from Tyler. The department first said he was being held on a pending murder charge at the Tri-City Regional Jail, while later reports said he was in the Dallas County jail. Authorities have not publicly described a motive, a prior conflict or any relationship between Smith and the two victims. They also have not said whether Smith had been inside the bowling alley before the shooting or whether the confrontation began in the parking lot or near the entrance. For investigators, the next steps are likely to include witness interviews, a review of any security video, forensic testing on the recovered gun and a prosecutorial decision on whether the wounded victim’s case will bring additional counts.
The use of drone technology gave the case a second focal point beyond the shooting itself. Police departments across North Texas have increasingly used drones to search large outdoor spaces, especially in low light, where a fleeing suspect can be hard to spot from the ground. In Duncanville, police said that capability helped officers find Smith in an open field shortly after the shooting, narrowing the gap between the crime scene and the arrest. That quick capture can preserve evidence and reduce the chance that witnesses lose track of key details in the first hours after a violent crime. Still, the speed of the arrest does not settle the larger questions in the case. Detectives still must build a full account of what happened, determine what role each person played and show whether the evidence matches witness descriptions of the suspect’s movements after the shooting.
Outside Red Bird Lanes, the setting was one of those ordinary places where weekend activity can shift abruptly into a crime scene. The entrance where officers found the first victim is part of a commercial corridor used by families, league bowlers and late-night customers, not a place normally associated with a homicide investigation. By Sunday afternoon, the public account had been reduced to a few hard facts: one man dead, one hurt, one suspect arrested, one gun recovered. The spaces between those facts remain where the case will turn next. Investigators still have to explain why shots were fired, whether the violence was planned or sudden and how the second victim made it from the scene to the hospital before police publicly connected the two episodes.
As of Tuesday, Smith remained in custody, the second victim was expected to survive and the investigation was continuing. The next major development is likely to be the release of the dead man’s identity, the filing of any additional charges or a fuller police account of what led to the shooting outside the bowling alley.
Author note: Last updated April 14, 2026.