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Former Dallas County Fire Marshal assistant chief Zack Masri, center, stands at a Dallas County Commissioners Court meeting April 1, 2025.<\/p>\n
Anja Schlein\/Special Contributor<\/p>\n
Dallas County Fire Marshal assistant chief\u00a0Zack Masri unholstered his gun and pointed it down while talking with a colleague, prompting a firearm instructor who witnessed the April 7 incident to report it, according to an internal memo. An internal review stated Masri was \u201cjoking,\u201d but he received a written warning for misconduct a month later.<\/p>\n
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The day after the gun incident, Masri walked into another colleague\u2019s office, picked an argument with him and called women nearby \u201cbitches,\u201d according to an account written by the man.<\/p>\n
Masri announced he answered to no one but the fire marshal, the man alleged.<\/p>\n
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The tipping point, according to a human resources investigation, came after Masri ghost-wrote an email defending the authority of the fire marshal\u2019s office and had a county commissioner send it under her name.<\/p>\n
Fallout from the email led to Masri\u2019s firing June 8 for misconduct, removing him as second-in-command of an agency already under fire for testing<\/a> the limits of its power. Masri is appealing the termination from his $160,000-a-year job. He did not respond to questions sent to him or his lawyers.<\/p>\n Legislators and the body overseeing law enforcement in Texas raised concerns last year that the Dallas County Fire Marshal\u2019s office acts more like a security force<\/a> than a fire safety agency.<\/p>\n County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins declined to comment directly on Masri or the fire marshal\u2019s operations, saying only that the county \u201cremains committed to ensuring the safety\u201d of employees and residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n With no public vote, the Commissioners Court in 2015 created the Dallas County Marshal Service to use peace officers commissioned under the fire marshal for security in county buildings. Commissioners approved a $2 million budget and six positions for fire marshal duties this year and another $13 million and 96 positions for the agency to handle building security.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year, Texas Commission on Law Enforcement director Greg Stevens told county officials there is no such thing as a county marshal under state law and he was concerned the fire marshal\u2019s office was too focused on duties unrelated to fire safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n