|
Only have a minute? Listen instead
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Harlingen Police Department on Friday identified the suspect who killed a 35-year-old woman more than a year ago.
And, the 43-year-old man died a day after his victim following being shot multiple times by law enforcement.
In a news release, Harlingen police said that John Douglas McCommas is the man who killed Kristina Marie Torres in her apartment at 925 E. Fillmore Ave.
Investigators previously said they believed she had been dead for days before police entered her apartment on March 26, 2022 at around 3:36 p.m. in response to a welfare concern call.
McCommas died the next day.
A custodial death report filed by the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office with the Texas Attorney General’s Office said McCommas died of multiple gunshot wounds.
The report said that on March 27, 2022 at around 1:51 p.m., investigators with a DA’s Special Investigations Unit assisted the Cameron County Precinct 5 Constable’s Office in attempting to arrest McCommas for evading with a motor vehicle.
“The operator of the vehicle (John Douglas McCommas) had been involved in an armed robbery/aggravated robbery/theft of a motor (vehicle) in the area of Weslaco, Texas,” the report stated. “During the pursuit, McCommas was discharging a firearm from the suspect vehicle and directing gunfire towards the pursuing Officer … .”
His vehicle came to a stop on FM 2520 and Ricardo Avenue in San Benito where a standoff ensued.
The report said McCommas brandished a gun out the window while officers on scene told him to put it down.
“McCommas refused to comply with commands. McCommas raised his firearm, aimed at the officers, and fired at officers,” the report stated. “Fearing for their lives and the lives of others, Officers discharged their weapons to stop the threat upon their lives.”
That document said that a constable from Pct. 5 fired a weapon; three deputies from the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office fired weapons; and an investigator with the DA’s office fired a weapon.
In the news release, Harlingen police said McCommas and Torres knew each other.
Through a multi-agency collaboration with the Texas Rangers and the Los Fresnos Police Department, investigators used advanced forensic techniques, surveillance video, and ballistic and trace evidence to determine McCommas shot and killed Torres before going on a crime spree that ended in his death in San Benito.
