HOUSTON (Texas, US), July 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Four police officers were shot and one died Thursday after confronting someone barricaded in a house in a small town in west Texas, news reports said.
The shooting erupted in Levelland, which is about 50 kilometers west of the city of Lubbock, a Lubbock newspaper reported.
It was not immediately clear what triggered the standoff with an armed person barricaded inside a house in Levelland, said the Lubbock Avalanche Journal.
The paper said two of the wounded officers were in critical condition.
Three of the wounded officers were taken to a Lubbock hospital. Sgt. Josh Bartlett of the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office was taken to Covenant Health Levelland hospital and died of his wounds, according to a sheriff’s office statement. Bartlett was the commander of the sheriff’s tactical unit.
Levelland police Sgt. Shawn Wilson was in critical but stable condition in University Medical Center in Lubbock after surgery, said Police Chief Albert Garcia. The other three officers were treated for minor injuries, and at least some had been discharged from the hospital, he said.
Hockley County Sheriff Ray Scifres declined to identify the suspect but said he had a history of contact with police. — NNN-AGENCIES
