O'Shae Terry

O'Shae Terry, 24, was shot four times and killed by Arlington, Texas Police Officer Bau Tran on September 1, 2018, during a traffic stop for an expired registration tag. After officers said they smelled marijuana, Terry began rolling up his windows and started the engine to drive away; Tran, who had climbed onto the SUV's running board, drew his weapon and fired five rounds through the window as the vehicle began moving, striking Terry four times. A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Tran on criminally negligent homicide eight months later, a rare criminal charge against a police officer in the county. In May 2023, nearly five years after the shooting, Tran pleaded guilty — but received deferred adjudication, meaning he served no jail time and, if he completes probation, will have no conviction on his record at all. A separate federal civil rights lawsuit was dismissed on qualified immunity grounds. No one has ever been convicted in Terry's death.

Arlington, TX · Tarrant County

• 2018: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The traffic stop, the escalation as Terry attempted to leave, and the shooting, per body camera footage and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals's detailed recounting of the incident.
• Tran climbed onto the SUV's running board and reached through the window with his right hand before resting it on his holstered pistol; when Terry started the engine and the car began to move, Tran drew his weapon and fired five rounds, striking Terry four times.
• Terry's passenger, Terrence Harmon, was uninjured; the force of the SUV striking a curb afterward knocked Tran off the vehicle and onto the street.
• A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Tran on criminally negligent homicide in May 2019, described by legal observers as a rare criminal prosecution of a police officer in that county; Tran had a disciplinary record prosecutors characterized as reflecting “bad character,” including a prior off-duty incident where he allegedly pulled a knife on someone while identifying himself as an officer.
• The federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals nonetheless granted Tran qualified immunity in the Terry family's civil rights lawsuit, dismissing the case; the Cato Institute filed an amicus brief arguing Tran's conduct should be ruled unconstitutional regardless.
• In May 2023, nearly five years after the shooting and just before trial, Tran pleaded guilty to the felony charge but received six years of deferred adjudication community supervision and a $600 fine — no prison time — with the conviction to be wiped from his record entirely if he completes probation without violation.
• Attorney Lee Merritt, representing Terry's mother and Harmon, publicly called the deferred adjudication outcome “a denial of accountability” and “a dereliction of justice.”

• Whether Tran reasonably perceived an imminent threat to his life in the roughly one-second window between the car's engine starting and his shots being fired — the central question in both the criminal case and the qualified-immunity analysis — was never resolved by any court ruling on the merits, since the criminal case ended in a plea and the civil case was dismissed on immunity grounds without reaching that question.
• The specific contents of Tran's prior disciplinary record beyond the incidents described in court filings have not been made comprehensively public.
• Why prosecutors agreed to a deferred adjudication plea deal nearly five years after indictment, rather than proceeding to the scheduled trial, has not been fully explained publicly.

• KERA News — “Former Arlington police officer could face no prison time after pleading guilty to 2018 shooting”
• Reason — “A Cop Was Indicted for Homicide After Shooting a Fleeing Driver. He Still Got Qualified Immunity.”
• WFAA — “Former Arlington officer who shot, killed man during 2018 traffic stop won't serve prison time”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs