Suspect Dead After Officer-Involved Shooting At Mesquite Apartment Complex
MESQUITE, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — Officials with the Mesquite Police Department have confirmed that one person is dead after an officer-involved shooting on May 4.
It was around 7:45 a.m. when officers were sent to the 5800 Block of Northwest Drive, at the Audubon Park Apartments, after a 911 hang up call. Officials say before the call disconnected a dispatcher could hear screaming and sounds of a struggle in the background.
At a late morning news conference police said the phone number was traced back to an apartment at the complex and that when officers arrived there was 'some type of confrontation' and both 'used force' and fired their weapons. After the shooting, the officers attempted lifesaving techniques on the male suspect, and he was taken to a nearby hospital, but he died from his injuries.
The clothes of the male suspect were left on the ground after paramedics cut them off to administer medical aid.
Family members tell CBS 11 News the deceased is 24-year-old Ashton Pinke and that he is bipolar and schizophrenic and was at his girlfriends apartment when police were called.
According to them and witnesses at the scene, Pinke was holding a cane-like stick when he was shot.
A second ambulance was sent to the scene to treat a person described as a female 'assault victim'.
The officers involved in the shooting were one man (21-year veteran) and one woman (25-year veteran).
They are currently on paid administrative leave.