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Report: 32 Brownsville police officers assisted in fatal shooting

4 years 2 months 2 weeks ago Tuesday, February 04 2020 Feb 4, 2020 February 04, 2020 6:43 PM February 04, 2020 in News - Local

BROWNSVILLE – A newly released police report is offering more detail on an officer-involved shooting that happened in Brownsville in December 15, 2019. It shows 32 officers showed up to assist.

CHANNEL 5 NEWS requested the report from the City of Brownsville two days after the incident happened. After the city sought a ruling from the Texas Attorney General, they received a response January 24, 2020 prompting the release of the records which were sent January 31, 2020.

Of all the officers who reported to the scene, only three were mentioned as victims. According to the report, the suspect shot at all three of them.

The fatal shooting happened in the span of just a few minutes that Sunday night. According to a separate report filed with the Attorney General of Texas, at 2:08 a.m. 9-1-1 received about 14 calls. Residents reported hearing gunshots in the Galaxia neighborhood. They told dispatchers a man later identified as Mario Alberto Torres, 27, was walking in the middle of the street shooting a firearm into the air. They believed it was a large-caliber weapon.

At 2:17 a.m., Brownsville Officer Rolando Trujillo and two other showed up at the scene. Trujillo deployed his rifle as he and the other officers drove around searching for Torres. When Trujillo found him, Torres was holding a black object in his hands. It later was recovered and described in the report as an assault rifle. Trujillo told him to show him his hands. Instead, the report says Trujillo while still sitting in his unit, saw a flash of white and heard a loud bang. Trujillo shot back. The officer got out of his patrol car yelling commands for Torres to stop. Both kept shooting. Some of the gunfire broke the window of one of the police cars.

Trujillo returned fire at Torres who collapsed. A county pathologist would later report he died of a gunshot wound to the head.

Officers disarmed Torres before a nearby Border Patrol agent offered emergency medical assistance. Torres was then taken to Valley Baptist Hospital where he was declared dead at 2:52 p.m.

Video was recorded by dash and body cameras. An investigation by the Texas Rangers is still ongoing.

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