Dallas police release video showing shootout that wounded officer

The Dallas Police Department on Monday released video of last week’s shooting in a liquor store parking lot that led to a rolling shootout through South Dallas.

A civilian was killed in the initial Thursday shooting, and a Dallas police officer was wounded while chasing the suspect.

Juan Vincente Zavala Lopez faces charges of murder, aggravated assault and aggravated assault of a peace officer. He’s being held in the Dallas County jail on more than $1 million bond. It’s unclear whether he has an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

The video begins with two Dallas officers — Derek Williams and Christopher Mazin — driving toward the First Stop liquor store on Scyene Road, responding to reports of a shooting in the store’s parking lot.

The officers pull into a neighboring shop’s lot and drive toward two trucks parked in front of the liquor store. Zavala Lopez exchanges gunfire with Williams and Mazin before driving away in his truck. In the other truck was 60-year-old Ruperto Mondragon Salgado, who died at the scene.

Williams and Mazin chase Zavala Lopez for about a mile, toward the intersection of South Second Avenue and Elsie Faye Heggins Street. Zavala Lopez then pulls a U-turn and drives toward Williams and Mazin while the two officers stop in the middle of Second Avenue.

When Zavala Lopez’s truck was parallel with the officers’ patrol car, the video shows Zavala Lopez taking both hands off the steering wheel, leveling a gun toward the officers and opening fire. Williams cries out that he’s hit.

The bullet hit Williams’ ballistic vest. He was not seriously injured.

The video also showed Zavala Lopez’s arrest in Lewisville several hours later. Dallas police officers in tactical gear converge on a stall where Lopez is crouched in a praying position, appearing asleep or unconscious. One officer shoots Zavala Lopez with a less-lethal round before taking him into custody. A handgun was found with him.

Zavala Lopez, 45, was treated for a gunshot wound to the leg sustained during one of the initial shootings, Dallas Police Chief Eddie García said Monday. García said Zavala Lopez was a Mexican national living in the country illegally and had been deported several times from both California and Texas.

It’s unclear why Zavala Lopez shot Salgado. García said the pair were roommates who had some sort of disagreement. García said Zavala Lopez had a connection to the horse farm where he was later found, but declined to elaborate or say how officers were led to his location.

The incident marked the ninth shooting this year involving a Dallas police officer, García said. Officers were fired on first in all but two of those shootings, he added.

García added he was “incredibly proud” of Williams and Mazin, who he said “faced evil and did not back down.”