AUSTIN (KXAN) – After five police officers were murdered by a gunman in Dallas in 2016, KXAN investigators took a closer look at what led to that crime and several others across the state. When our docuseries, “Fallen,” debuted in spring the following year, our team had documented 79 cases of Texas police officers killed by gunfire in the line of duty since 2000. By September 2025, that number had risen to 126, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.
A trend we found with many of the killers back then: mental illness. We highlighted solutions in effect at the time to help reduce related deaths, including a growing communication network, a still-used statewide alert system and the ever-evolving approach to mental health challenges in the criminal justice system.
This week, on a “From the Vault” edition of our weekly “Inside the Investigation” program, KXAN Director of Investigations & Innovation Josh Hinkle and Senior Investigative Producer David Barer revisit their original project and discuss how it came together, along with updates to the topic still playing out today across Texas and the nation.
Related reports
- Fallen: Original KXAN Docuseries
- How ‘Blue Alerts’ work in Texas
- When Texas police used the ‘COPsync’ network
- Crisis training highlights mental health field challenges for police
You can watch all new episodes of Inside the Investigation on the KXAN+ app every Friday starting at 1 p.m. The segment described above will follow a special viewing of “Fallen,” so you can watch the stories and the updated analysis back-to-back. Just search for KXAN on your preferred streaming devices, such as Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV. You can also listen to KXAN’s investigative podcast, where we feature audio versions of our weekly “Inside the Investigation” episodes. You can find new episodes every Saturday morning wherever you get podcasts — search for KXAN Investigates.
