Fort Worth Police share video from shooting that left a civilian employee with shrapnel in his eye
The Fort Worth Police Department is sharing more details about a shooting last week that left a member of its civilian response unit (CRU) with shrapnel in his eye.
Officials hosted a news briefing at 2 p.m. Monday to provide an update. The scene that unfolded on April 28 sent CRU member Edward Zapata to a hospital and ended with the arrest of a suspect following a manhunt.
What happened in North Fort Worth
During the news briefing, Fort Worth Police Chief Eddie Garcia recounted the basic details of the shooting again, and once he finished the recounting of the narrative, several video angles were shown. The incident happened at about 11:40 a.m. along North Juliet Lane. Chief Garcia said the CRU was responding to a vehicle burglary report when a man identified as Angel Cantu started shooting with a pellet rifle. Garcia said Cantu hit Zapata, causing shrapnel to hit Zapata's eye.
Chief Garcia noted that Cantu was not involved in the original burglary report in any way.
The first video angle shown was from a home security camera, showing Zapata and the burglary victim talking outside. Cantu, highlighted by a red circle in the footage, is seen in the distance. This angle showed Zapata and the burglary victim quickly moving out of frame.
A second angle is then shown, this time from Zapata's body-worn camera. This footage showed the initial talk, and then an impact is heard. Zapata and the burglary victim are again shown running for cover, while Zapata is seen calling for backup over the police radio. The home security camera angle is shown again, with Cantu being seen moving.
The footage again cuts back to Zapata's camera, showing him stumble down after being shot before calling for help again on the radio. Blood is shown on the ground and on Zapata's hands as he helps the burglary victim to safety, ensuring she can climb over a fence using trash cans.
Another angle is then shown after this: the sworn Fort Worth Police officer who ended up helping Zapata get to safety. The footage from this officer's camera showed him drawing his service pistol as he encounters Cantu.
When police officers responded, they exchanged gunfire with Cantu before he took off running out of the back door of his home, jumping the fence. The sworn officer's camera shows the gunfire exchange, along with him getting a police rifle out of his patrol car. The footage then shows the officer start looking for Zapata, knocking on a home's door and being let in to assess Zapata's condition. The officer then calls for an extraction unit, tells the family inside the home to keep their door closed after he leaves, and guides Zapata to safety inside his patrol car, driving Zapata away for treatment.
The area around the Summerfield subdivision near Basswood Boulevard and North Riverside Drive was blocked off while police searched for him.
Fort Worth Police said Cantu was taken into custody shortly before 6 p.m. that evening as he exited a wooded area near Riverside and Brittany Place. Another body camera angle showed his arrest.
The video presentation concluded with Cantu's mugshot and a photo of the items on his person when he was arrested: two knives, two pens, a rock, some kind of wire, spare change and what appeared to be pellets meant to be used in an air rifle.
Zapata was treated at JPS Hospital. Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker told CBS News Texas' Jack Fink at the time that Zapata was "miraculously doing well".
Chief Garcia also shared a photo of Zapata on social media, saying Zapata was in "great spirits". Garcia also thanked Mayor Parker and JPS Health.
Zapata, who served in the Marines for 30 years and received a Purple Heart for action in Iraq, had recently joined the CRU in February.
What is the CRU?
The department's website shares more information about what the CRU does. Fort Worth's CRU officers are not police police officers and are not armed. They respond to scenes to collect evidence and write police reports, tasks that a sworn police officer does not necessarily need to complete. They do not respond when a suspect is on the scene or likely to return.
Training for the CRU began back in January 2021. The unit was formed as art of a promised adjustment to policing strategies in the city that also included tripling the size of the department's crisis intervention team.