Police officers are well aware that there is no such thing as a routine traffic stop. Body armor is the only thing that saved one Burleson, Texas police officer this morning. A red-hot manhunt is underway for a threesome of suspects, two men and a woman, all white. Officials are expecting to update the public with a press conference any moment now.
There is a press conference expected to start any time and the video is here.
Officer shot multiple times
The name of the veteran police officer has not yet been released but he’s stable in the hospital and talking thanks to his body armor. Police relate that around 4:15 a.m. early Wednesday he pulled over a vehicle due to an “equipment violation.”
The driver dutifully pulled to the shoulder “along the 1100 block of Southwest Hillside Drive, near the Burleson High School campus.”
According to Burleson Police Chief Billy Cordell, “when the officer approached the passenger side front door and turned toward the window, someone in the car fired multiple shots through the window, striking him multiple times.”
Leaving the cop for dead, the bushwhackers “drove away and abandoned the vehicle about 2 miles away along Southeast John Jones Road.” Chief Cordell notes, “it appeared the group may have tried to set the vehicle on fire.”
The officer was transported by another member of the force to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth for treatment. Police were happy to announce he was “lucid and speaking” while transported.
(1/2) 9:25 am UPDATE: Based on the advice from local law enforcement, all JISD campuses and operational buildings are going into Secure Mode effective immediately. This means that school will carry on as normal within the physical walls of the building, but no one will be allowed pic.twitter.com/5v56prqX7Q
— Joshua ISD (@JoshuaISD) April 14, 2021
Police are analyzing the “body camera footage to try to identify the suspects as quickly as possible.”
The Fort Worth police sent a helicopter to assist in the search immediatley after the shooting. All that’s known about the suspects so far is that they’re described as “one white woman and two white men.”
Always a possibility
Meanwhile, in an abundance of caution, “all Joshua ISD schools were operating under heightened security.” They tweeted that they will keep kids home while the “search continued for the suspects.”
The department notes that “the wounded officer has served on the midnight shift for several years” and the whole incident is a total shock.
At 4:15 a.m. Wednesday, April 14, a Burleson Police officer made a traffic stop in the 1100-block is Hillside Drive. During the traffic stop the officer was shot multiple times. The officer was transported to John Peter Smith hospital in Fort Worth. His condition is unknown.
— Burleson Police (@BurlesonPolice) April 14, 2021
“This is a surprise. Burleson’s a great, great community of people. This is certainly not anything we would expect to see, but it’s always a possibility.” The chief admits “This will be difficult on the family. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.”
It’s not clear if the suspects fled from the abandoned vehicle on foot or if somebody picked them up.
