Dramatic videos shot by bystanders to Friday’s gunbattle between Laredo, Texas, police officers and a wanted murder suspect show the gunman firing on police. The gunman shot three officers and injured another before responding officers shot and killed him.
One video by an unidentified cell phone videographer appears to be taken from a restaurant next door to the Stripes convenience store where the shooting took place. Antonio Gerado Rodriguez, 55, the man identified by police as a suspect in the murder of his girlfriend Friday morning can be seen shooting from behind his pickup truck. The video, posted by Facebook user Mike Taylor has been seen more than 300,000 times on various Facebook posts as of this article’s posting. The videographer is was not identified in the post.
Rodriguez can be seen taking multiple shots at officers in different locations. A cloud of debris appears near his head as a bullet from police strikes his vehicle next to his head.
At one point, he points his gun towards the bystanders in the restaurant and the witnesses duck for cover. The videographer quickly resumes the video coverage. A customer of the Stripes store can be seen running into the store for cover. Rodrigues shoots from multiple positions of cover as he moved around the front of his truck attempting to shoot police.
In total, Laredo police say Rodrigues shot three officers during the gun battle. A fourth officer received a minor injury from flying debris during the gun battle.
A second video, posted by Facebook user Chavez Santiago, shows the gun battle from a different angle across the street from the Stripes store. Rodriguez can be seen walking calmly up to what appears to be a wounded Laredo police officer. It appears he reaches down to take something from the person on the ground. The victim can be seen moving around in apparent pain.
As more officers arrive on the scene, Rodriguez again opens fire. He fires multiple rounds at the backup officers. “He’s not backing down!” a woman in the car can be heard saying. “The police are dead, no?” she asks. Rodriguez continues to fire as the woman tells the driver of her car to leave before they get shot.
A third video posted by Ab Matias on Facebook shows the conclusion of the gun battle from down the street. More officers can be seen responding and engaging Rodriguez with gunfire. After a couple of minutes in this video, it appears Rodriguez is finally taken out and officers swarm the suspect.
Police had been searching for Rodriguez in connection to the shooting death of his girlfriend, according to a report by KSAT ABC12 in San Antonio. Police reports identified the murder victim as Reyna Gonzalez Zamora, 50.
Laredo Police Department Investigator Joe Baeza told Breitbart Texas the suspect was spotted by three officers involved in the search. Rodriguez opened fire on the officers with a hundgun. The officers returned fire.
Additional responding officers engaged the suspect and continued shooting until the suspect went down. Baeza confirmed three officers were shot and a fourth officer received an injury from flying glass during the shooting.
An unnamed source within the department with knowledge of the situation told Breitbart Texas that one officer had been shot in the face. That officer has been airlifted by helicopter to San Antonio where the officer will undergo surgery.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to replace a Facebook video deleted by the original poster and to add additional information.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.