The Texas Rangers are investigating a police shooting at Beach Access No. 5 on South Padre Island that happened at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to a press release.
Cameron County Park Ranger Chief Horacio Zamora said the shooting happened after park police engaged the driver of a stolen vehicle.
“In the course of the incident, the suspect stole the officer’s vehicle and intentionally and knowingly placed the officer in substantial risk of immediate serious bodily injury or death,” Zamora said in the release.
In response, an officer fired their weapon at the suspect, who the Park Rangers did not identify.
Charley Wilkison, executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, or CLEAT, which is a police union, said in a Facebook post that the suspect had been in a patrol truck with no cage when he slipped out of his handcuffs and climbed into the driver’s seat.
Wilkison said the ranger jumped onto the tailgate of the unit when the suspect began to swerve to throw the officer off the vehicle.
The ranger fired and the suspect was hospitalized, according to Wilkison.
