Police: Inmate killed after escape, fatal carjacking
By Maricela Rodriguez, Valley Morning Starlet
By Miguel Roberts, The Brownsville Herald
By Miguel Roberts, The Brownsville Herald
By Maricela Rodriguez, Valley Morning Starlet
By Maricela Rodriguez, Valley Morning Starlet
Courtesy: Cameron County Sheriff’s Dept.
By Laura B. Martinez, The Brownsville Herald
Investigators review evidence at the three thousand seven hundred block of Boca Chica Boulevard where an inmate Miguel Garcia attacked a county detention officer before fleeing and killing a man during a carjacking.
By Laura B. Martinez, The Brownsville Herald
Boca-Chica-2.jpg
Investigators review evidence at the three thousand seven hundred block of Boca Chica Boulevard where an inmate Miguel Garcia attacked a county detention officer before fleeing and killing a man during a carjacking.
By Laura B. Martinez, The Brownsville Herald
Boca-Chica-3.jpg
Investigators review evidence at the three thousand seven hundred block of Boca Chica Boulevard where an inmate Miguel Garcia attacked a county detention officer before fleeing and killing a man during a carjacking.
Posted: Thursday, June 8, two thousand seventeen Five:00 pm
A pursue for an inmate who escaped from authorities and then killed someone during a carjacking, ended in a shooting in San Benito, authorities said. The inmate later died.
The tragic series of events began when the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office was transporting inmate Miguel Garcia to the three thousand seven hundred block of Boca Chica Boulevard to receive medical attention, said Brownsville Police spokesman J.J. Trevino.
Officials say Garcia attacked the detention officer, slashing his face, taking his gun belt and onslaught rifle. Police say Garcia swam across a nearby resaca and compelled his way into a home on Fruitdale Road requesting keys to a car.
“Apparently he was able to escape and he took off to a local residence here and optimally shot and killed the residence holder, took his vehicle, and he was found somewhere on the expressway where a pursuit ensued and ended up in San Benito,” Trevino said.
The shooting victim has been identified as 56-year-old Mario Martinez.
Garcia fled in Martinez’s blue two thousand fourteen Hyundai Elantra. Brownsville police, the sheriff’s department, constables and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers chased Garcia on FM five hundred eleven and eventually northbound on Expressway seventy seven to San Benito.
The pursue ended in the industrial park at Williams Road and the frontage road, when the suspect drove into the parking lot of the Gulf Coast Sign Company.
Witnesses near the Gillman Chevrolet car dealership in San Benito said they heard a quick succession of gunshots. One bystander described the scene as a “concert of lights.”
Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio said Garcia was shot and transported to Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen where he died.
Brownsville Police Chief Orlando Rodriguez also was on site. He said Brownsville PD was part of a multi-agency operation that was coordinated by the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department.
Lt. Johnny Hernandez, the communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said it assisted in the operation with the Texas Rangers.
Staff writers Frank Garza, Kaila Contreras, Laura Martinez, Diana Maldonado, and staff photographers Jason Hoekema and Maricela Rodriguez contributed to this report.