by Angela K. Brown, The Associated Press
Grand Prairie, Texas (AP) -- Two officers were wounded in a shootout with someone inside a van at a Wal-Mart parking lot Friday, then police surrounded the van in an hours-long standoff that kept customers trapped inside and halted traffic on a nearby interstate.
At least six police cars circled the blue van, which had several bullet holes in the windshield and side, as officers crouched behind them with their guns drawn.
Detective John Brimmer said officers were called about 8:45 a.m. to investigate a report of a van with New Mexico tags sitting in the parking lot all night with its engine running.
The first officer arrived, and then a second, he said. Both were shot as they approached the van. One of the officers’ patrol cars was parked behind the van with three of its doors open and its lights flashing.
Sgt. Gregory Hunter was taken to Arlington Medical Center, where he died at 12:20 p.m. He was a 20-year veteran and the first black officer in Grand Prairie, officials said.
Officer Bruce Seix was airlifted to Methodist Central following the shooting. He was listed in critical condition Friday afternoon.
John Jacobs, the manager of a Payless ShoeSource near the Wal-Mart, said he was about to leave the store to go to the bank when he heard three pops. He said he thought a car must have backfired until he heard another volley of pops.
“When I heard whistling, I knew rounds were coming in our direction. So when I heard the whistling, I hit the ground and I called the cops,” said Jacobs, who was locked alone in the store as the standoff continued outside.
“I would say everything probably happened in maybe seven to 10 seconds. It was just very quick,” he said.
SWAT officers have been negotiating with someone inside the van all morning, Brimmer said. He had no information on the person and didn’t know whether more than one person was inside the van.
As the standoff dragged on, dozens of Wal-Mart shoppers and employees were kept inside the locked store for their safety. They were released out a back door just after noon and kept away from the front of the store where the standoff continued.
Tenetia Carpenter, a saleswoman at a Dots women’s retail store across the street from the Wal-Mart, was locked in the store’s back room with another clerk.
“Our manager called us and told us to get all the customers out,” Carpenter said. “We just told them due to the emergency we have to close our store and we have to get everybody out.”
She said she and her co-worker heard what she described as a slapping sound, followed a few minutes later by police sirens.
She later saw one of the officers loaded onto an emergency helicopter and initially thought a traffic accident had happened. She didn’t know about the shooting until her manager called.
“I’m not from Texas, and I’m not used big commotion,” said Carpenter, who recently moved to the state from Kansas City. “We get commotions but not like this.”
Police also closed the access road along Great Southwest Parkway and about four miles of eastbound and westbound traffic on Interstate 20 near the Wal-Mart. The van sits in a parking space next to the road in this suburb between Dallas and Fort Worth.
--------------
Associated Press writers Liz Austin and Jaime S. Jordan contributed to this report.