Sandy MaloneMcAllen, TX – McAllen police released dashcam video of an altercation with an armed attempted murder suspect who ended up accidentally shooting himself on Thursday night (video below).
The incident occurred at about 11 p.m. on Aug. 26 near the 3000-block of Highway 83 in McAllen when police responded to a 911 call about a man who appeared intoxicated, The Monitor reported.
The caller told the dispatcher that the suspect possibly had a gun and a knife.
The police report said the suspect “went into the office and pointed [a] finger like he was going to shoot,” The Monitor reported.
The caller told the dispatcher that he thought he’d heard the sound of a gun being cocked and that a cleaning lady said she had seen the man’s gun.
Police responded to the scene and found the armed man near Ware Road and Business 83, The Monitor reported.
The police report said that when officers encountered the suspect and tried to stop him, the man yelled “Here we die!” in Spanish.
When McAllen Police Officer Noe Guerra approached the suspect, he “reached into his front waistline, drew a handgun from his waistline, and began to turn towards the Responding Officer,” The Monitor reported.
Dashcam video showed Officer Guerra tackled the armed suspect at that point.
The police report said the officer wrestled the armed man to the ground and in the process, the suspect accidentally discharged a round and shot himself in his own left hand, The Monitor reported.
Officer Guerra was able to disarm the suspect and take him into custody.
The police report said the officer recovered a .380 caliber handgun and a “Released Offender” ID card issued by the Arizona Department of Corrections on the suspect, The Monitor reported.
McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said the suspect was identified to police as Reynaldo Esquivel-Barrera, also known as Ezequiel Barrera or Reynal Esquivel-Barrera.
Chief Rodriquez said all of the aliases have lengthy criminal histories attached to them, according to The Monitor.
The police chief said police would not be able to positively identify the armed suspect until his fingerprints had been done.
“We’re very fortunate today to not have a death on our hands,” Chief Rodriguez told reporters on Friday. “The individual clearly indicated that he was dying and that so were officers at that moment in time. It’s the bravery of our officers that resulted in what we call nominal injury to the suspect.”
“We’re very, very fortunate for the officer’s actions because clearly we could have one or multiple deaths today,” he added.
Chief Rodriguez said Barrera was transported to a local hospital for treatment of his self-inflicted gunshot wound, The Monitor reported.
He said the suspect would be charged with attempted capital murder and retaliation.
The police chief said that even after Barrera was taken into custody, he continued to threaten the officers, The Monitor reported.
“He clearly continued to threaten the officer once he was in custody,” Chief Rodriguez explained. “He was saying that he would come back and finish what he started. So we’re going to charge him with those charges.”
He commended Officer Guerra’s handling of the incident, The Monitor reported.
“Part of decision making is knowing yourself, knowing your capacities, knowing your physical capacities and psychological capacities, and then utilizing that to make decisions,” Chief Rodriguez said. “Only the person at the scene at that moment in time, only that person is the best judge of the situation. He made determination based on his training and what he knows about himself, and we are fortunate that because of that, today we are not dealing with a death of either the suspect or officers.”
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. WARNING – Graphic Content:
Holly Matkin
