By Emerson Clarridge, Lillie Davidson
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
GARLAND, Texas — Garland police officers early Monday shot to death a man who they said fired on multiple officers at three different locations, Garland Police Chief Jeff Bryan said.
One officer was wounded by the gunfire and is expected to recover.
The shooting happened after officers responded about midnight to a report of gunshots fired in the 100 block of West Wanda Drive, Bryan said in a press conference Monday.
Police had received multiple reports of gunshots in the area and at least 10 shots could be heard in the background of one of the 911 calls, Bryan said.
The suspect began to shoot at two officers immediately upon their arrival at the scene, Bryan said. The officers were unable to return fire, but escaped.
One officer’s vehicle was hit by gunfire multiple times and had its windshield shattered, while the other officer “sustained multiple impacts,” Bryan said.
A round passed through that officer’s vehicle, went through one of his legs and lodged in the other leg, Bryan said. Other officers performed first aid, and the injured officer was taken to a hospital.
The suspect drove away in a white pickup truck and ambushed another officer who was driving on West Margarita Street , south of the original crime scene, Bryan said.
At that point, the suspect had parked and gotten out of his vehicle and was shooting from behind other parked cars, Bryan said.
When more officers arrived to help, the suspect exchanged shots with them before running to a relative’s house on West Wanda Drive, Bryan said.
Officers surrounded the residence and learned there were additional family members inside the home, Bryan said.
As police tried to evacuate the relatives from the house, the suspect charged out while pointing an object at officers, Bryan said. Multiple officers fired at once and the suspect was shot dead.
The initial investigation found that the object the suspect was holding was a magazine from his gun, Bryan said.
The suspect was identified as 24-year-old Bernardo Mares.
A motive for the shooting has not been determined, but witnesses told investigators that Mares had said he was not going to go back to jail and was going to force officers to kill him, Bryan said.
The officer who was shot in the leg has been with the department for one year and is in good spirits despite pain, Bryan said.
“I’m proud of all of our officers,” Bryan said. “This was an incident where multiple gunshots were being fired, and these officers charged into that protecting that neighborhood and protecting the other officers.”
Eight officers fired shots over the course of the two-and-a-half hour incident that spanned three different scenes, Bryan said.
All eight officers who fired their weapons have been placed on administrative leave, and multiple investigations are underway, Bryan said.
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