VIDEO: Suspect shot by Fort Worth officers carjacked driver, pointed gun to his own head
A suspect who was shot seven times by officers following a car chase on Fort Worth’s north side last week pointed a gun to his head after carjacking a driver, according to dash-cam video released Tuesday by Fort Worth police.
Jail records identified the suspect as 28-year-old Jaquin Guzman, but police are still working to confirm his identity, Police Chief Neil Noakes said at a news conference Tuesday.
The suspect was arrested on charges of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, aggravated robbery, and evading arrest. Guzman has been in the hospital since Thursday and is in stable condition, Noakes said.
The police chase started at around 5:15 p.m. that day when officers received a notification of a stolen vehicle near Ephriham Avenue and Azle Ave.
The dash-cam video starts with showing a maroon GMC truck driving past a stop sign, ramming into a patrol vehicle, and driving past it. The suspect was driving recklessly throughout the 20-minute long police chase, authorities said.
The chase came to an end when the suspect stopped the truck in front of a gas station off the intersection of NW 28th Street and McKinley Avenue.
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Officers are heard giving the man orders to show his hands and drop his weapon as he runs out of the vehicle with a long gun, the video footage shows.
He is seen carjacking an occupied white SUV as the victim runs off, at which point five officers fired their guns multiple times, according to Noakes.
As police halted their gunfire, they continued to give the suspect orders to drop his weapon. The footage shows the suspect getting out of the white SUV, walking away, and pointing his gun to his head.
He falls to the ground as police resume firing at him, according to the video. The suspect was struck seven times in his upper and lower body, according to Noakes.
Police initially said the suspect pointed his gun in the direction of a business when officers fired their weapons at him.
Officers immediately began providing medical aid to Guzman, police said.
After being asked about the extent of the chase, Noakes said the department will be reviewing how police chase policies were reflected in the incident.
“I got some questions on some things,” Noakes said. “Anytime we have a pursuit, we got to go through and look through everything. These things are happening so fast and they’re so dynamic, but we have to go through them with a fine-tooth comb to make sure policy is followed.”
The incident was one of three last week in which officers from Tarrant County were involved in the pursuit and shooting of an armed suspect, according to police.
On Wednesday, a man was killed when he was shot by a SWAT officer during a standoff with Bedford and Hurst police, authorities said. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man as 45-year-old Joshua Keith Hughes, of Southlake. He died from multiple gunshot wounds.
On Friday morning, a police chase involving several North Texas police departments that began in Dalworthington Gardens, just outside of Arlington, ended when the suspect was shot multiple times after firing at officers in Midlothian, officials said. The suspect, who was wanted on a family violence warrant and whose name has not been released, died at a hospital, according to a news release from Dalworthington Gardens police.