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Gloria Marie Strong

Age : 27

Gender : Female

Race : Black

Date : 09/27/2021

Location : 601 W. McDermott Drive

City : Allen

County : Collin

State : Texas

Agency : Allen Police Department

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during disturbance at Wendy’s parking lot

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 09/27/2021, an Allen Police Department officer shot and killed 27-year-old Gloria Marie Strong in the parking lot of a Wendy’s at 601 W. McDermott Drive near U.S. Highway 75 after police responded to a disturbance involving Strong, her estranged wife and another man.
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Police were dispatched shortly before 2:30 p.m. to a reported disturbance at 301 Central Expressway South. Officers did not initially locate the disturbance and began searching the surrounding area. They subsequently encountered Strong in the nearby Wendy’s parking lot.
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The initial police narrative changed materially within approximately one day. Allen police first described the incident as a gunfight or exchange of gunfire between Strong and 24-year-old Michael Anthony Cooper and initially said investigators did not know whether Strong had been fatally struck by Cooper’s gunfire or police gunfire.
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Police subsequently withdrew that account. Allen police said Cooper had not fired his weapon and that the only people who fired guns were Strong and the Allen officer. Police said Strong had shot Cooper several times before officers arrived at the immediate location.
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Strong’s estranged wife, Jonique Strong, witnessed the confrontation and provided an account that supported significant portions of the revised police narrative. She said Gloria Strong shot Cooper, dropped the handgun she had been using and picked up Cooper’s rifle before running from the area. Jonique Strong said Cooper had armed himself because he believed Gloria Strong posed a threat but did not fire his weapon.
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Police said responding officers saw Strong carrying the rifle at her side and heard gunshots. According to the department’s revised account, officers also observed Strong firing her weapon before she began running east while still carrying the rifle toward an area with vehicle and pedestrian traffic. An Allen officer fired at least one shot at her.
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Police found Cooper wounded between two vehicles and Strong collapsed several feet away. Officers provided first aid, and both were transported to a hospital. Strong died from her wounds. Cooper underwent emergency surgery and survived.
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The precise sequence of the fatal gunfire was initially unclear enough that police publicly declined to say who had killed Strong. The department’s later statement said Strong “died from wounds received during the incident,” while confirming that an Allen officer had fired at her. The Texas Rangers assisted with the investigation because an Allen officer discharged a firearm.
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Jonique Strong’s eyewitness account also provided important context preceding the shooting. She said she and Gloria were estranged and planning to divorce and that Gloria had been away from their home for at least two weeks. Jonique was at Wendy’s with her four-year-old daughter and Cooper, the child’s father, when Gloria encountered them. Jonique said jealousy involving Cooper contributed to the confrontation.
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Jonique also said Gloria had previously taken her handgun and that police had recently been called concerning the situation but had not recovered the weapon. She said Gloria used that handgun to shoot Cooper before dropping it and picking up Cooper’s rifle. Thus, the encounter with police followed an extremely serious shooting, but the public record also shows that Allen police substantially revised their initial account after first portraying the incident as an exchange of gunfire between Strong and Cooper.
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No encounter-related wrongful-death or civil-rights lawsuit by Strong’s family was identified in the later public record reviewed for this update.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Allen Police Department officer who fired at Strong was not publicly identified in the contemporary coverage, and later publicly accessible reporting reviewed for this update does not reliably establish the officer’s identity. Without that identification, a substantive individual background investigation for prior or subsequent shootings, complaints, discipline or civil litigation cannot be completed.
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The Texas Rangers were brought into the investigation specifically because an Allen officer fired a weapon. The department’s changing account makes that independent investigation particularly important. Police initially told the public that Strong and Cooper had exchanged gunfire and that investigators did not know whose bullets killed her. By the following evening, Allen police acknowledged that Cooper never fired and that the only gunfire came from Strong and the officer.
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There is also relevant institutional context involving Allen police and another high-profile death earlier that same year. On March 14, 2021, Allen police arrested 26-year-old Marvin Scott III at the Allen Premium Outlets after officers encountered him during what they described as erratic behavior and concerns for his safety. Scott, who had a documented history of mental illness, was transported to a hospital and then booked into the Collin County jail. He died hours later after detention officers restrained him, pepper-sprayed him and placed a spit hood over his head. An independent autopsy attributed his death to restraint and asphyxia.
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Scott’s death triggered protests and intense scrutiny in Collin County. Seven Collin County detention officers were fired and an eighth resigned following the sheriff’s internal investigation. Although Scott died in county jail rather than directly in Allen police custody, Allen officers initiated the detention that placed him into the chain of custody preceding his death, making the case relevant to the policing environment in Allen during the months before Strong was killed.
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The most important unresolved officer-background issue in Strong’s case remains the identity of the shooter. Because the officer’s name was withheld from the readily available public record, it is not possible to determine whether that officer had previous or subsequent fatal shootings or other relevant disciplinary or litigation history.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/armed-woman-dies-officer-involved-shooting-wendys-parking-lot-allen-texas/
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2021/09/27/woman-armed-with-a-rifle-dead-in-allen-after-officer-involved-shooting/
https://www.fox4news.com/news/woman-shot-dead-by-allen-officer-during-argument-with-man-identified
https://www.fox4news.com/news/allen-officer-fires-at-woman-involved-in-shootout-with-man-at-wendys-parking-lot