DPS special agent hospitalized after being shot in Haslet
HASLET, Texas - A DPS special agent was shot and injured in a North Texas neighborhood Friday afternoon, and the shooting suspect was caught.
Few details have been released about the shooting, and authorities have not yet said whether the shooter was a man or a woman and why the special agent was there in the first place.
Neighbors said it was a man who was taken into custody.
A woman who lives on Mainstay Way and Salida Road in Haslet took cell phone video capturing part of a standoff with law enforcement just a few houses away.
A lieutenant with the Texas Department of Public Safety said it all started just after 2:15 p.m., when a DPS Criminal Investigation Division special agent was conducting an investigation on Mainstay Way, but many other details have not yet been released.
The lieutenant would not confirm whether the shooter is the same suspect the special agent was in the area investigating, instead only talking vaguely about the shooter arrested.
"The agent encountered the suspect in that area. The suspect discharged a firearm, striking the special agent. The agent did not return fire. The suspect was not injured and is in custody," DPS Lt. Lonny Haschel said.
DPS would not give details about the agent's investigation or reveal a possible motive for the shooting, but said the agent was not in uniform.
At some point, neighbors said they saw the agent clutching his shoulder and stumbling down Salida Road looking for help.
Investigators said the agent was taken to JPS Hospital in Fort Worth in serious condition, but with non-life threatening injuries.
Neighbor JR Lopez said by the time he heard the sirens and stepped outside, the agent was already in the ambulance.
"I jumped up and grabbed my phone, popped outside to see what happened. Looked down the street and there’s 10 to 12 troopers, 10 to 12 police cars. Came down here and everybody had their guns drawn," he explained.
The Texas Rangers are now investigating and conducting interviews to finish piecing together what happened.
Authorities did say they are not searching for any other suspects.