A custodial death report filed by the McAllen Police Department for a 23-year-old man who authorities say ambushed two officers, fatally shooting both men, shows that the person who called 9-1-1 told authorities the man had attacked his mother and was possibly intoxicated.
“The Reporting Person (RP) called the McAllen Police Department and reported that ‘her mother in law was attacked by her son at 3521 Queta.’ The RP requested to make contact with responding Officers at the LEOS Store (at Ware Rd). The RP further reported that the suspect was “intox(icated) …under the influence of narc[otics],” the report stated.
Police are referring to Audon Ignacio Camarillo, who shot and killed officers Edelmiro Garza, 45, and Ismael Chavez, 39, on July 11 at around 3:30 p.m.
The officers had responded to the home and when Garza and Chavez tried to enter the home, police said Camarillo opened fire.
“They were doing their job,” McAllen police chief Victor Rodriguez said that day. “That is what they were supposed to do. The person was a suspect of the incident, met our officers at the door, and shot at both officers. Both officers suffered fatal wounds, they have both passed away as a result.
“The officers never had a chance to suspect deadly assault on them, much less death.”
The custodial death report says the officers were shot above the collar bone.
The report also states that both Chavez and Garza made contact with the 9-1-1 caller at another location at 3:30 p.m. and went to the house at 3:51 p.m.
Four minutes later, the reporting person called back to say “officer down.”
At 3:57 p.m., a sergeant who arrived on scene reported “both Officers are down.”
“At 4:03 PM, Responding Officers reported ‘sus(pect) ran back inside the res(idence) …then outside and then back inside.’ At 4:05 PM Responding Officers reported the suspect ‘is outside now’ and that he shot himself,” the report stated.
Had he not died, Camarillo would have faced two counts of capital murder of a peace officer.
Chavez had been with the department for two years while Garza had eight years of experience.
