A man is dead and three police officers were injured, one critically, after a shootout with police in the Texas border city of Laredo, a police spokesman has reported. The man opened fire on Laredo Police officers at a convenience store after it was noticed by officers that a car at the store matched the description of a vehicle driven by a suspect wanted in connection to another shooting incident.
WOAI-TV in San Antonio reported that the shootout occurred Friday (June 2) afternoon around 5 p.m. at a Stripes convenience store gas station. Laredo Police PIO Joe Baeza said that Laredo Police were searching for 55-year-old murder suspect Antonio Geraldo Rodriguez after the body of 50-year-old Reyna Gonzalez Zamora was found dead earlier in the day, apparently the victim of a single gunshot to the upper torso.
The Laredo Morning Times reported that Zamora was pronounced dead at the scene. Police had been called to conduct a welfare check at her apartment.
According to KSAT in San Antonio, an “armed and dangerous” alert was issued for Rodriguez shortly after the body was discovered.
Baeza confirmed that the Laredo officers that engaged Rodriguez were in the area looking for the murder suspect when they spotted his car parked outside the convenient store. Upon approaching the suspect, he opened fire on the officers and they returned fire. WOAI-TV also reported that several other officers arrived at the scene and apparently exchanged shots with the suspect as well.
When the shootout ended, Antonio Geraldo Rodiguez was wounded and three Laredo police officers had suffered injuries. Baeza reported that one of the officers was in critical condition following the shooting and, according to the Associated Press , was airlifted for treatment at a San Antonio hospital, which is 150 miles from Laredo.
The other two injured officers, Baez said (per WOAI-TV ), were treated at a local Laredo hospital.
Rodriguez was also treated at a local hospital following the shootout where he later died.
According to a report by Breitbart News , Baeza told Breitbart Texas that the suspect was approached by three officers when he produced a handgun and began shooting . When backup arrived, those officers also began shooting at the suspect until he went down.
Baeza also noted that a fourth officer was injured by flying glass during the shootout.
An anonymous source within the Laredo Police Department told Breitbart that the critically injured officer was shot in the face. He was set to undergo surgery at the time of the report.
“We ask the community for prayers for the officer and their families,” Detective Baeza told reporters.
The other three officers received non-life-threatening wounds, according to the source. The injuries were described as being to the shoulder, in the leg, and in the hand. The source did not elaborate on which injury was from the flying glass and which were gunshot wounds.
In an updated reported by the Associated Press , the two Laredo Police officers who sustained gunshot wounds during the shootout with Rodriguez are currently listed in serious but stable condition at Laredo Medical Center. The airlifted officer is currently in critical but stable condition at University Hospital in San Antonio.
Laredo is a city of over 235,000 people located on the border with Mexico. A 2016 Brown University study noted (per Voice of America ) that Laredo is the least ethnically diverse metropolitan area in the United States with a population that is 95.6 percent Hispanics and Latinos.
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