El Paso: Wanted man shoots self with deputy's sidearm

[seamusTX]

In El Paso Friday a sheriff deputy stopped a group of young men for walking while looking Mexican. One of the men was a 19-year-old who was wanted on a felony warrant. In an ensuing confrontation that turned physical, the man got control of the deputy's sidearm and fatally shot himself in the head.

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Deceased apparently had poor impulse control.

- Jim

[RoyGBiv]

Tragic all around..

Rest in Peace...

[quidni]

In El Paso Friday a sheriff deputy stopped a group of young men for walking while looking Mexican.

What prompted this remark?

The incident started when a deputy was driving along Greg Road and noticed three people walking on the side of the road. He recognized one of them as having a felony warrant out for his arrest, Tovar said.

According to sheriff's officials at around 4:30 p.m. Friday, a sheriff's deputy saw three suspicious people walking along Gregg road near the school.

The shooting happened in Montana Vista after the deputy questioned three men, including Alvarez

Nowhere in any of the articles you linked does it say he stopped them for "looking Mexican." (in this county, if that was the criteria, you'd be questioning over half of the legal residents....) None of them state he stopped "three Hispanic males" or anything mentioning possible ethnicity except for the surnames given. And even that doesn't prove anything - my husband went to school with a 3rd generation Mexican citizen with the last name McGrath.

It's sad that it happened, but kudos to that deputy for recognizing and identifying a wanted felon even with the unexpected outcome.

I'll add that this happened just a couple blocks from the home of some good friends of ours... she used to teach at that high school.

There's a followup article in the El Paso Times here.

[seamusTX]

It was a snarky comment. I apologize.

The first article that I read and that you quoted said:

According to sheriff's officials at around 4:30 p.m. Friday, a sheriff's deputy saw three suspicious people walking along Gregg road near the school.

What made them look suspicious?

I am very impressed that the officer could recognize a wanted suspect on sight.

- Jim

[Kawabuggy]

Apparently the officers psychic abilities were right on target "Court records show a string of arrest records in Alvarez's name, including charges for felony aggravated assault, misdemeanor evading arrest and criminal trespass". Had the suspect not passed, I'm sure he would have turned his life around and he'd be a choir boy next week right? Right....

Whatever the officer saw that appeared to him to be suspicious was right on the money. Give that officer a raise.

[seamusTX]

Since this suspect gave himself the death penalty without bothering to go through a trial and all those costly and tiresome appeals, I guess it all worked out, right?

I hope the officer is not traumatized.

- Jim

[Excaliber]

Those with felony warrants are often "frequent flyers" who are well known to local law enforcement officers. When a warrant is issued, it's not at all unusual for them to know exactly who they're looking for and to recognize the subject on site from multiple prior contacts.

In my agency, we went even further and monitored jail release records for notices that frequent offenders with distinctive methods of operation were getting out. We'd then watch for incidents where their known "signatures" appeared, matched the evidence against their descriptions, prints, DNA, etc. on file, and wasted no time picking them up again.

[Big Tuna]

A wanted fugitive (including aggravated assault) with a long record killed himself. Nobody else was killed or injured.

That sounds like good news for people who could have been his alleged future victims.