Dallas, TX- Police Officer Shot/LODD 03-23-07

[Truck4 48]

Date: 03-23-07

Time: 1700hrs

Location: 4100 block of Bernal Drive X Highway 12

Description: Officers in pusuit of a vehicle wanted in connection of a homicide when suspect lost control of the vehicle. As Officers approached the car, the suspect shot and killed Senior Cpl. Mark Nix. Suspect was removed from vehicle by SWAT.

Writer: Truck4

Links:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17771071/

A Dallas police officer was shot and killed Friday following a car chase in which the suspect's car ended up nose to nose with the squad car, NBC 5 reported.

Police officials identified the officer as Senior Cpl. Mark Timothy Nix, 33, who had been with the department since June 2000. He was also a veteran of the Gulf War, NBC 5 reported.

Police identified the shooting suspect Saturday as Wesley Lynn Ruiz, who police said is a known gang member from Dallas with a history of drug arrests.

The shooting happened in the 4100 block of Bernal Drive near Loop 12 in Dallas.

The chase began around 5 p.m. when officers spotted a car matching the description of a vehicle from a murder at a drug house Thursday in Oak Cliff, police said. When police tried to pull Ruiz over, he sped off.

The short chase ended in a West Dallas neighborhood when the suspect lost control of his car. The police car and the suspect's car ended up front bumper to front bumper.

Police said Ruiz refused officers' orders to exit his vehicle, and when Nix tried to break out the window, they said Ruiz opened fire from inside.

Six other officers that were on the scene fired rounds, but Nix was not able to shoot back, police said.

Rush-hour traffic prevented ambulances from promptly responding; so another officer drove the victim to the hospital, Cerda said. Nix was put in the back of a patrol car and rushed to Parkland Hospital, as a rookie officer with training as an EMT tried to help during the ride, authorities said.

Ruiz was slumped down inside a car that Chopper 5 video showed was riddled with bullets.

Dozens of officers with guns drawn had surrounded the vehicle before SWAT officers removed him from the car at about 7 p.m. Paramedics took the man from the scene in an ambulance.

The standoff lasted about two hours. Police spokesman Vernon Hale said the car's dark, tinted windows initially prevented officers from knowing how many people were inside.

Police said Ruiz was transported to Parkland Hospital where he is listed in serious condition with non-life threatening injuries. An assault weapon was found in the suspect's vehicle, police said.

Nix was pronounced dead at Parkland Hospital, Sgt. Gil Cerda said. He leaves behind a fiancee from Lewisvile, and his parents and sister in Cleburne.

“We are providing counseling for the officers here,” he said. “It’s just a very hard time for us.”

Police said Saturday that Ruiz is not a suspect in Wednesday's murder in Oak Cliff, and said that Ruiz purchased the vehicle thought to be associated with the crime, in the days following that murder.

Ruiz faces charges of capital murder, four counts of aggravated assault on police officers and drug possession, police said.