Perla Cortez EDINBURG- A witness spoke out on an officer-involved shooting and shared a video of the incident at a Stripes store on University Drive and Sugar Road.
Estephania Santos witnessed the incident while waiting in traffic on University Drive.
“I saw a man running wearing a white shirt and tattooed with a weapon in his hand,” Santos said. “The man kept attacking and upon not complying with the officers, they start rivaling and the shooting started.”
Edinburg Police Chief Jaime Ayala said officers responded to multiple calls at about 8:10 a.m. in regard to an armed man with two kitchen knives near a Stripes store.
Edinburg PD encountered 33-year-old Justin Lee Garza after he showed “erratic” behavior at the gas station. Officers attempted to deescalate the situation, but Garza ignored the verbal commands and “dashed” into the Stripes store, prompting an officer to fire one round.
“They took him without his shirt and covered in blood,” Santos said.
Ayala said Garza was arrested and transported to emergency services in critical but stable condition. He added Garza had an extensive history with law enforcement encounters, including mental-health and substance-abuse issues.
“Our officers have engaged with him several times in recent months,” Ayala said. “If you recall [on] June 9, we had a subject who was Mr. Garza that was behaving erratically and actually trespassed on top of the rooftop and remained for several hours until we could deescalate the situation and take him into custody.”
Edinburg PD worked closely with University Police reporting that UTRGV was not at risk or on lockdown.
Texas Rangers is conducting the criminal investigation on the officer-involved shooting.
Per protocol, the officer who shot the round will be placed on administrative leave.
