A look at previous officer involved shootings

Published 8:06 pm Monday, December 31, 2018

Port Arthur police, Texas Rangers and the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office are investigating a recent fatal officer involved shooting – the fifth in 10 years.

Here’s a look at the four previous incidents:

  • March 8, 2008 — Tremaine Darnell Flanagan, 28, of Port Arthur attempted to elude police driving over 100 mph along Memorial Boulevard when he pulled into Raceway Convenience Store with Officer Matt Bulls in pursuit, according to an archive story.

Bulls attempted to stop the man, who resisted, so the officer deployed his Taser but the man did not stop. The incident turned deadly as Flanagan reportedly turned and fired three shots from a .25 caliber gun; one struck Bulls in the chest and lodged in his bulletproof vest while a second shot struck just above the vest, entered Bulls’ sternum and lodged in his chest. A third bullet flew toward a witness getting fuel, entering the person’s shirt and striking a cell phone before exiting.

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Bulls returned fire eight times with six shots hitting Flanagan, killing him.

The suspect was reportedly high on PCP at the time of the incident.

Bulls underwent surgery and recovered though he still has the bullet in his body.

  • Nov. 1, 2013 — Rosa Flores Lopez was shot by police after she reportedly refused to drop a knife she was wielding in her home in the 3800 block of 29th Street.

Flores Lopez was known to have mental issues and police were called to the home for a family disturbance.

Police ordered her to drop the knife and she didn’t, according to an active story. That’s when an officer deployed a Taser with no effect. When she raised the knife, threatening the officers, one of the officers fired a shot that hit her in the arm and chest. She died from her injures.

  • March 27, 2014 — Eduardo Rodriguez was shot by police after reportedly wrestling a gun from an officer and was shot by a second officer on scene in the 1400 block of Peek Avenue.

Police initially responded to the report of an automobile accident and Rodriguez was a passenger in the truck. He tried to force the driver of the truck to accelerate away from police but the driver refused, according to an archive story.

At that time both officers on scene drew their weapons and tried to remove Rodriguez from the vehicle when he began to fight one of the officers. The second officer deployed a Taser but the man continued to fight for, and eventually gain control of the gun from the first officer. Rodriguez was ordered to drop the weapon and came up off the ground armed and moving in an aggressive manner, the second officer fired several times and fatally wounded the man.

Blood toxicology revealed that Rodriguez had ingested a controlled substance before his death.

  • June 9, 2016 — John Michael Briscoe was fatally shot after a robbery at Walgreens at the corner of Ninth Avenue and FM 365.

An officer saw the suspect exit the store as the call of the robbery went out, according to an archive story.

The officer ran after the man who reportedly turned and “presented a weapon.”

The suspect was fatally shot.