A man who recently attempted to enter a Dallas church with a tactical rifle was charged with a federal firearm crime stemming from a 2022 shooting, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the North District of Texas announced.

Russell Alan Ragsdale, 25, was arrested Friday and made his initial appearance Monday on a possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance charge.

On Nov. 2, a church reported to Dallas police that Ragsdale was at the location with a gun, according to federal court documents. The church was not named in the filing.

Based on surveillance footage and witness interviews, officers determined Ragsdale arrived at the church about 5 p.m. while Mass was being celebrated with about 100 church members, according to an affidavit. He entered about 5:05 p.m.

“At 5:07 p.m., [Ragsdale] stood from his front row seat and approached the priest, embraced him and kissed him on both cheeks,” the affidavit says. Ragsdale “handed the priest a note that said, ‘May peace be with you.’”

Ragsdale remained in the church for about five more minutes before returning to his car. He put on a black and white poncho, retrieved a rifle from the trunk of the car, and then closed the three gates to the church parking lot, according to the affidavit. Ragsdale tried to reenter the church with the gun about 5:35 p.m., but parishioners had locked the doors.

A parishioner talked to Ragsdale outside after he placed the rifle on the ground. Officers arrived a few minutes later and arrested him.

The arresting officer noted “an odor of alcohol” coming from Ragsdale, the affidavit says.

During this investigation, police learned Ragsdale had been arrested two years ago as a suspect in a Seagoville slaying. He had faced a felony murder charge in the February 2022 killing of his roommate, but the case was later dismissed.

At the time, Ragsdale told police his roommate attacked him so he “shot him many times” in self-defense, according to court documents.

“Officers recovered three firearms, including a 10mm Glock and an AR-15 rifle, and almost two grams of hallucinogenic mushrooms from the residence,” the news release said. ” An analysis of Mr. Ragsdale’s phone showed a history of drug use dating back to November 2021, as well as evidence of purchasing and using hallucinogenic mushrooms on Feb. 2, 2022.”

Pursuant to a search warrant issued, earlier this month Dallas police received copies of information, including messages, from Ragsdale’s phone that indicated he used illegal drugs leading up to the February homicide, according to court documents.

If convicted, Ragsdale faces up to 15 years in prison.

A photography print of a man inside a minaret tower. A ceramic chalice. A tissue paper collage illustration from a children’s book. A short film about a trip to Europe with friends.

Each of these pieces of artwork was created by Asian American artists from North Texas and featured in the Dallas Asian American Art Collective’ first annual art show over the weekend.

The co-curators Leili Arai Tavallaei, Jackie Tao Law and Christina J. Hahn, who are all Dallas-based artists, partnered with The Cedars Union where they put on the show.

Tavallaei said the collective wanted to reflect the diversity of emerging and established AAPI artists in North Texas. The co-curator is a printmaker, mixed-media painter and animator whose work explores her mixed race identity as someone with parents who are Persian Iranian and Hāfu, mixed Japanese identity.

“A lot of people, when they hear of Asian artists, they usually think of international Asian artists that have made it big across the pond,” she said. “We here want to kind of make a statement that we are, in fact, here in the States. We are here in Texas.”

Law said that distinction of being an Asian American artist matters because being part of the diaspora is an entirely different experience from being Asian.

“You end up having this blend of maybe your home culture and then being from wherever you immigrated to,” said Law, who is a first-generation Hakka Chinese visual artist.

Here are some of the artists who displayed work at the show:

Growing up way out east in Tyler, Mallari said his family would travel two hours one-way to get groceries from the Hong Kong Market Place in Dallas. It was part of his family’s Sunday ritual: get a haircut, buy groceries and head home.

Mallari said there’s a “small but mighty” Filipino community in Tyler, but for a long time there wasn’t a space to pick up basic ingredients to make food from his culture.

“When I was a kid, I was annoyed that we would have to be there. But as I got older, I appreciated how important that was, how some of my favorite foods we wouldn’t have been able to make it or they wouldn’t have been my favorite foods had we not gone there.”

The second-generation Filipino American filmmaker describes “To Here and Back” as a visual tone poem that reflects the immigrant story.

“I think it’s about coming back to a place and seeing how time has changed it even though it’s kind of stayed the same in your head,” he said.

Berglund said this last year she focused on “trying to be more Chinese” and returning to her roots. A big part of that has been drawing scenes from everyday life in China, including sketches of three delivery drivers, a night market full of delicious snacks or people waiting in line with thick parkas.

“I was just there about a year ago during the winter when everyone was in the big, puffy jackets which is not something you see in Texas,” she said.

Originally from Beijing, the artist – who works as a web architect by day – now lives in Plano with her family. She sometimes makes sketches from photos and online reference art, which reminds her of how different the scenery is back in China.

“I remember the hutongs, which are the little alleys. I remember wearing my red scarf as a little kid and the yellow hats in elementary,” she said. “Seeing those things in drawings brings back a lot of memories.”

Choi is a medical student in North Texas by day and artist by night. His colorful, abstract paintings don’t immediately seem to reference language but that’s the inspiration for his work.

He said he incorporates Chinese typography into his pieces as a system that connects Korean and Japanese, the two languages that he speaks.

The artist said he wanted to explore questions like: “How do we represent the world through language? What are some ways that you can kind of twist or distort or play with the form of language to represent the world?”

Choi said language has been an important way to connect with loved ones.

“It’s how I feel connected to my family abroad. Whenever I go back to that language context, it feels like coming home in a way,” he said. I feel like so much of Korean culture is bound up in the way language is constructed, in the way you relate to people and honorifics.”

Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.

This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The University of Texas at Dallas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.

DALLAS – Authorities are investigating whether a vigilante is shooting coyotes in a Dallas neighborhood.

Dallas Animal Services says it’s investigating three coyote deaths since August. Two of them were shot.

Authorities don’t know who is doing it, but people who live in the area are rattled.

Emily Levin is still left disturbed by the dead coyote found in her front yard last week.

“Wednesday, this dead coyote appeared in our front yard on the border between our yard and our neighbor’s yard,” she recalled.

Levin says a city wildlife investigator immediately came out to her Lochwood neighborhood and revealed the coyote had been shot. 

“And I asked her if she knew if it had been shot in our front yard or it had walked. And she said it was hard to tell, which is not reassuring,” Levin said.

DAS tells FOX 4 it’s been investigating a possible trend since August. 

Three coyotes have been found dead in Lochwood. Two were shot. The third was disposed of before the city arrived on scene. 

“Like, don’t go shooting a gun in a neighborhood!” Levin said.

The neighborhood has been shaken for weeks. 

Just a few streets over from Levin, a homeowner sent FOX 4 surveillance video from late October where you can hear gunfire. You can hear glass shattering at the end. 

One bullet went through a home’s front window near Easton Road and East Lake Highlands Drive. No one was hurt. 

More recently, the same homeowner said he heard gunshots again Sunday afternoon. Dallas police say they responded, but no one was injured. 

It’s unknown if these incidents are related to the coyote shootings. 

However, the Dallas County game warden confirmed they are investigating and are asking for all surveillance video to be handed over. 

Levin has a warning to anyone disrupting the peace in her neighborhood.

“Don’t bring that to our neighborhood. It’s too nice of a place for that,” she said.

The Dallas County game warden couldn’t reveal too much information on the investigation but wanted to remind people the coyotes in urban areas are being monitored. 

At this point, no coyotes in the Lochwood area have posed a threat to humans.