By Casey Foran
The Odessa American
Related: 2 Texas officers fatally shot, 1 critically injured responding to domestic
ODESSA, Texas — They waited. They hoped. But it looks like they’re going to lose Cpl. Abel Marquez.
“We’re going to let him go,” Cpl. Phillip Marquez said. “He’s right above brain dead — he has very minimal brain activity.”
It was the worst news possible.
“We didn’t know until after the test results were confirmed,” said Cpl. Phillip Marquez, a brother of the critically injured police officer.
Phillip Marquez said doctors plan to observe his brother with no sedation until 10 a.m. Tuesday. Then, if Abel Marquez shows no signs of improvement, they’ll “let him go.”
Sgt. Pete Marquez, another of Abel’s brothers, said he was uncertain of his brother’s condition.
“He was showing signs of improvement, but now I’m not sure,” Pete Marquez said Monday afternoon. “They postponed surgery today, because they said he took a turn for the worse.
“He’s in very critical condition,” he said. “It’s very severe right now.”
Abel Marquez was wounded Saturday night in an exchange of gunfire that killed his comrades Cpl. Arlie Jones and Cpl. Scott Gardner.
Phillip Marquez said while he wasn’t at the scene Saturday, his brother Pete was the first officer to arrive after the other three were shot.
“Pete was one of first responders,” he said. “He actually took Abel to the back of the patrol car and took him MCH.”
Abel had been shot multiple times in the hands, arms and face.
“It’s going to look like a buckshot hit him because there are multiple wounds on his arms and neck,” he said. “His badge took the hit, and it took an enamel ‘State of Texas’ off his badge.”
Greg Bruce, University Medical Center public information officer, said Abel Marquez was still in critical condition Monday evening but declined to go into details.
Phillip Marquez said his wounded brother’s children — 10-year-old daughter Sandra and 7-year-old son Isaac — went to Lubbock late Monday just in case their father’s condition worsened.
“We didn’t want them to see him when he wasn’t doing good,” he said. “Since the doctors are talking about his taking the turn for the worse, we want them to see him just in case he gets even worse.”
Pete Marquez said Abel’s kids are everything to his wounded brother.
“He’s an all around great person — he’s a super dad,” he said. “He was always a great dad to his kids.”
The three Marquez brothers, always close, all became police officers and work together at the Odessa Police Department. Abel loves police work, his brothers said — but he also has many other passions.
“He just always wanted to help people — he loved being a policeman, and he wouldn’t want to do anything else,” Pete Marquez said. “He was an excellent artist — he did oil paintings. He’s always been artistic and loved painting in his spare time.”
Copyright 2007 The Odessa American