By Sarah Roebuck
Police1
DALLAS — Body camera video from the Dallas Police Department shows the moments leading up to an intense shootout between officers and a fleeing murder suspect.
According to a news release, officers Derek Williams and Christopher Mazin were driving past a business around 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 14 when they saw the suspect, later identified as Juan Vicente Zavala Lopez, shooting into a vehicle.
Williams maneuvered their patrol car into the parking lot, returning to the scene of the shooting. As the officers exited their vehicle, Lopez fired several times toward the officers as he pulled out of the parking lot, hitting the cruiser.
Williams and Mazin both returned fire and pursued the suspect.
As the suspect was fleeing, he did an abrupt U-turn and drove back toward the officers. The officers got out of the cruiser again, exchanging gunfire with Lopez as he drove by them.
The suspect hit Williams with a bullet on the right side of his ballistic vest. The cruiser was also struck by gunfire several times.
The victim of the initial shooting died from his injuries. During a news conference on Monday, Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said the shooting appeared to be domestic-related and that Lopez and the victim, identified as Ruperto Mondragon Salgado, were roommates.
Officers then tracked Lopez to a barn, where he was arrested by a Dallas Police SWAT team.
Williams was treated and released from the hospital.
“We are lucky to have our officers alive today,” Garcia said during a news conference. “Our men and women go to work each day not knowing what the day or call will hold to serve and protect. I’m grateful for the brave men and women of this department for the great work they do each day and the bravery and commitment to our profession and our city. I’m incredibly proud of officers Williams and Mazin, who faced evil and did not back down.”
Lopez, according to Garcia, was in the U.S. illegally and had been deported nine times over the past 20 years.