By Michael D. Hernandez
El Paso Times
EL PASO, Texas — El Paso police on Sunday were trying to confirm the identity of the man who was shot and killed Friday after he allegedly stole a case of beer from a Lower Valley convenience store then lunged at a plainclothes officer with a knife.
The unidentified man is believed to have been about 39 years old and lived near the 7-Eleven in the 9800 block of Socorro, where the shooting occurred, police spokesman Javier Sambrano said.
An analysis of fingerprints taken from the man could result in police releasing his identity Monday, Sambrano added.
The name of the plainclothes police officer involved in the shooting was not released but Sambrano said he has been with the El Paso Police Department two years and was a transfer from an undisclosed law enforcement agency.
At about 10:54 p.m. Friday, the plainclothes officer from the Mission Valley Regional Command Center was in an unmarked police vehicle when he watched a Hispanic man take something from the 7-Eleven, police officials said.
The officer stopped the suspect outside the store. The man pulled a knife then complied with the officer’s orders to drop the weapon, officials said.
But as the officer approached, the man picked up the knife and lunged at the officer, Sambrano said.
“He did not leave the officer any other choice but to protect his own life by discharging his firearm,” Sambrano said.
The man died at the scene and the police officer was placed on administrative leave.
The shooting is being investigated by the Crimes Against Persons Unit, the Shooting Review Team, Internal Affairs and the District Attorney’s Office, police officials said.
Police in recent years have been fighting beer runs across the city and have stepped up patrols, launched undercover operations and provided classes for convenience store employees.
At first glance, stealing beer may seem like an innocuous crime but the incidents often erupt into violent and dangerous confrontations, police officials have said.
Last year, the number of thieves rushing out of convenience stores with stolen beer had grown to such a frequency that a police commander in East El Paso had threatened to publicize the mug shots of people captured for such crimes on the Police Department’s Web site.
Juan Jose Dominguez, the convenience store’s manager, told the El Paso Times on Saturday that the man took a case of beer and left without paying. Dominguez said beer runs at the convenience store were common and occurred at a rate of about twice a week.
Sambrano said Friday’s shooting will not change the way police conduct surveillance of convenience stores.