Police say they arrested the suspect in the fatal attack at the Downtown Suites motel about a block away.
DALLAS — A person was beheaded at a Dallas motel on Wednesday morning, and a suspect is in custody, police say. Both have now been identified.
Police identified the victim as 50-year-old Chandra Nagamallaiah, and the suspect as 37-year-old Yordanis Cobos-Martinez.
Cobos-Martinez has been charged with capital murder in connection with the killing. Jail records show him listed as an immigrant.
WFAA crews reported dozens of police vehicles on the scene at the Downtown Suites motel in the 3400 block of Samuell Boulevard, near Interstate 30 and the Tenison golf course in East Dallas. The entrance to the motel is blocked off with crime scene tape.
Police say they were called to a stabbing call at the scene around 9:30 a.m. and found a suspect had cut a person “with an edged weapon several times.” Dallas Fire-Rescue also responded to the scene, where the victim died.
Officials say the suspect is in custody and charges are pending.
An arrest affidavit from the Dallas Police Department details the events that led to the gruesome scene.
According to the affidavit, a witness said she and Cobos-Martinez were cleaning a motel room when the victim, Nagamallaiah, approached and told Cobos-Martinez not to use a broken washing machine.
The witness told police that Cobos-Martinez became upset because the victim was speaking to her to translate rather than speaking directly to him, according to the affidavit.
At that point, surveillance video showed Cobos-Martinez leave the room, pull out a machete and begin attacking Nagamallaiah, according to the affidavit. During the assault, the affidavit said, Cobos-Martinez went through Nagamallaiah’s pockets and fought off the victim’s wife and son multiple times as they tried to intervene.
Stephanie Elliott said she witnessed the attack and told WFAA that the suspect began stabbing the person with a machete after an argument on the motel property, and the victim tried to run away but fell, and the suspect continued stabbing.
“He just kept hitting him and hitting until he decapitated him,” Elliott said. “I could not believe that anybody would do another human being that way.”
Audio from Broadcastify and police incident detail reports also describe a chase and a suspect armed with a machete “cutting someone’s head off.”
Dallas Police Executive Assistant Chief Terrence Rhodes said during a press conference that officers patrolling the area responded to take the suspect into custody.
“Our officers were proactively patrolling the area and responded quickly to take the violent criminal into custody,” said Rhodes. “Even though [the suspect] was armed with a bladed weapon, the officers showed tremendous restraint and used minimal force to apprehend him. This violent crime will not go unpunished and our department will thoroughly investigate and bring charges against the suspect.”
Police also responded to another scene about a block away where the suspect was arrested, officials tell WFAA.
More information about the incident was not immediately available.
This is a developing story. Check back for more details.
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