By Sarah Roebuck
Police1
EL PASO, Texas — An El Paso Independent School District police officer fatally shot a man during a confrontation in a campus parking lot last week, KTSM reports.
The incident, which happened on Aug. 22 outside the Franklin Magnet Center, occurred around 5:45 a.m. after the man, later identified as retired FBI agent Julio Cordero, 56, was reportedly breaking windows before classes started. His son attends Franklin High School as a senior, according to the report. During the incident, El Paso ISD Police Chief Manuel Chavira removed some cross-country students who were in campus and placed the area on lockdown.
Cordero, a father of four, served in the FBI El Paso Division from 1996 to 2019. After a 2014 incident, where a suicidal man jumped in front of Cordero’s car, his mental health declined — reminding him of memories of a 1993 crash that killed his sister. However, since he retired, his brother, Marco, told KTSM that his mental health worsened — leading to insomnia, nightmares, paranoia and PTSD.
Cordero led Operation Poisoned Pawns, a 2007 public corruption investigation that resulted in an FBI raid on the El Paso County Courthouse and led to the convictions of dozens of individuals, including three former county judges, county commissioners, school board members and business people.
“He was a very respected lawman in the city,” Marco said. “Poisoned Pawns ... that was his baby. He had a stellar career. A career that a lot of us would like.”
Cordero’s family questioned the use of force by the El Paso ISD officer. According to KTSM, El Paso ISD officers do not carry TASERs, and the ISD did not clarify whether officers are equipped with any non-lethal weapons.
Further details about the shooting, which is under investigation by the El Paso Police Department and Texas Rangers, have not yet been released.
