SAN ANTONIO –
A deadly shootout in Laredo left a suspect dead and three police officers wounded. One of them is being treated in San Antonio.
The shootout at the convenience store was the end of a deadly Friday in Laredo. The 55-year-old suspect was fatally wounded hours after police say he murdered his girlfriend.
The chain of events began at an apartment in the 400 block of Travis Street in the center of town. Police found 50-year-old Reyna Gonzalez Zamora dead from a gunshot wound to her upper chest.
A few hours later, police sent out a public lookout notice for 55-year-old Antonio Gerardo Rodriguez with a warning that he should be considered “armed and dangerous.”
Police saw Rodriguez’s vehicle at a convenience store at Hillside and McPherson roads.
"As they engaged with the individual, there was an exchange of gunfire between the suspect and the officers. My understanding is we have three officers who were directly hit by gunfire and one officer who received a residual injury,” said Joe Baeza, a Laredo Police Department investigator.
Rodriguez was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Two of the officers are being treated at local hospitals, and the third was taken by Life Flight to University Hospital in San Antonio in critical condition.
Police Chief Claudio Trevino, who has been on the job for just a week, called this one of the deadliest days he's seen in his 20 years with the department.
“Dealing with a scene like today, we prepare for it. We train for it, but we're not truly ready for it until we encounter it. Our officers put their lives on the line every day they put on the uniform,” Trevino said.
Police have not given out any information as to why Rodriguez fatally shot Zamora. Trevino said the other two wounded officers are being prepped to be taken to the San Antonio Military Medical Center on Friday night.
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