JOHNSON COUNTY, TX — A Johnson County deputy shot a 51-year-old parolee Monday after the man refused to drop his gun and walked toward officers during a standoff on a county road, a sheriff’s department spokeswoman said.
Jeffrey Anthony Jezak, who was convicted of aggravated kidnapping and then paroled in 2005, was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth via helicopter. Cpl. Pam Jetsel, a sheriff’s spokeswoman, said that Mr. Jezak was in a drug-induced coma and listed in critical condition with a shotgun wound to the abdomen.
She said department officials declined to immediately release the name of the deputy, but a press release said that the officer was “compelled” to shoot Mr. Jezak.
“It’s a very emotional, upsetting thing for the officer,” Cpl. Jetsel said.
She said that Sheriff Bob Alford was out of town and not available for comment.
A woman who knows Mr. Jezak told investigators that he had talked about suicide recently and specifically mentioned “suicide-by-cop” last week, authorities said.
If Mr. Jezak survives the shooting, he will be charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, theft of a firearm, felon in possession of a firearm and aggravated assault of a peace officer.
Cpl. Jetsel said the shooting started early Monday morning with an unknown dispute at a home southeast of Cleburne, where Mr. Jezak had been helping a couple with household chores.
Mr. Jezak helped them feed their horses Monday morning and then returned to the house with the couple, Cpl. Jetsel said. He then grabbed a 9mm handgun owned by the woman but tripped and fell down some stairs before he could fire at the couple, authorities said.
Cpl. Jetsel said she did not know the name of the 49-year-old woman and the 56-year-old man. She said that a 911 dispatcher had the impression that that Mr. Jezak attacked the couple in “jealous rage,” but the woman later told deputies that she did not have a romantic relationship with Mr. Jezak.
The couple told investigators that they sped away from the house, but Mr. Jezak chased them in his own car and fired at them. The chase ended near the town of Rio Vista when the couple slammed on the brakes, causing Mr. Jezak’s Kia to slam into their pickup truck, which was towing a horse trailer.
The couple hid in Boney Joe’s gas station and called 911 at about 7 a.m.
Law enforcement officials said that when they arrived, Mr. Jezak was walking in the middle of County Road 305 holding the handgun. Cpl. Jetsel said she didn’t know if the gun was raised.
A negotiator asked Mr. Jezak to drop the gun, but he continued to approach law enforcement officers. Authorities said he was about 10 feet from a deputy’s car when he was shot.
Copyright 2007 The Dallas Morning News