Texas Rangers Investigate After Plano Police Shootout
UPDATE 4:50 PM - The suspect died and has been identified as Eleuterio Amaya-Torres, 63.
PLANO (CBSDFW.COM) - The Texas Rangers have taken over an officer-involved shooting investigation in Plano. The gunfire happened at the QuikTrip in the 6400 block of Preston Road on Monday afternoon.
According to Plano police, an officer with their department was at the convenience store fueling up her patrol car.
Witnesses say an armed man approached a woman as she was pumping gas. As the woman tried to get away from the man she drove her white sedan into the back of a truck and it caught the attention of the Plano police officer.
The officer approached the woman and the suspect, pulled her weapon and and ended up exchanging gunfire with the man. The suspect was shot several times. "We saw the man laying down right behind the car with a gun in his hand, no movement and then the officer kicked it out of his hand," said witness Joshua Cotten.
Neither the officer nor the woman was injured.
Witnesses say they were stunned by what they saw. A bystander shot video showing the officer pointing her gun at a man lying on the ground.
Brett Robinson, who works nearby, said, "There was a lot of continuous shots after another… but the first one was just, there was a big space [in between the shots] that's why we thought it was something else."
Investigators are still trying to figure out what exactly led up to the confrontation. They did now say what relation the man and woman had, if any.
As per standard protocol, Plano police have placed the officer on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.