By Jeffrey Collins and John Seewer
Associated Press
MIDLAND, Texas — A man who opened fire in the West Texas city of Midland in an attack Friday morning that left one person dead and 10 injured had shot at police just days earlier during a chase, authorities said.
The suspect, 45-year-old Victor Mata Villarreal, was already being sought by authorities when he began firing at officers and bystanders in Midland on Friday before barricading himself in an abandoned veterinary clinic, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Police were called to the area after getting reports about an active shooter, authorities said.
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Villarreal was found dead inside the building just a few hours after the shooting began, police said. They did not say how he died.
Midland Mayor Lori Blong said authorities used robot and drone footage to confirm that the shooter was dead.
Villarreal, of nearby Odessa, was wanted for attempted capital murder of a peace officer after firing multiple times at a Midland police officer on Wednesday, the state’s public safety agency said.
The officer who tried to pull over Villarreal fired back, but Villarreal drove away and his vehicle was found empty a short distance away, investigators said. The officer was not injured, authorities said.
As police responded to Friday’s shooting, dozens of squad cars and law enforcement vehicles descended along what’s normally a busy roadway lined with hotels and auto businesses a few miles west of Midland’s downtown.
Andrea Mendias said she heard what sounded like a small explosion at the closed veterinary clinic next to the body shop where she works and saw a number of heavily armed police officers rush into the parking lot. Some appeared to go inside the building.
Mendias said she earlier heard what sounded like at least 40 gunshots.
Video from Mendias showed officers pouring out of the back of an armored police vehicle and police deploying robots into the area.
Midland Memorial Hospital said four people underwent surgery and that five had been treated and released.
The city with about 140,000 residents sits in the heart of the state’s oil and gas region and was near the site of a deadly shooting rampage in 2019.
In that shooting, a gunman who had been fired from his oil services job killed seven people and wounded two dozen others while firing at random as he drove around the Odessa and Midland areas. The two cities are more than 300 miles (482 kilometers) west of Dallas.
