Editor’s Note: Some viewers may find the story below disturbing.
LUFKIN, Texas (KETK) – One man is dead after a Lufkin police officer shot a robbery suspect early Tuesday morning.
Officers arrived at the 900 block of North Chestnut Street at a neighborhood in the center of town just after midnight. Investigators say they found a man standing in front of two mobile homes bleeding from his head.
A statement from the department said that the victim and a woman with him told them, “…they were robbed of their car keys, wallet, and cellphone by an armed white male.” They also said to the officers that they had been hit in the head with the butt of a long rifle.
The victim then pointed officers to a mobile home on the backside of the property where the suspect might be located.
Lufkin PD released a portion of the officer’s body camera footage that showed the shooting. He knocks on the door and a man inside the mobile home says “Come in, come in.”
The officer responds to the man to come out and talk with him instead. The suspect, whose name has not been released, then partially walks out from the mobile home.
Once he sees the officer, the suspect leans out the door with a rifle pointed at the officer and begins to walk toward him. The officer then fired two shots at the man, hitting him both times
The suspect was flown to an unspecified hospital out of town where he later died. The shooting is now under investigation by the Texas Rangers, which is standard procedure.
Police Chief David Thomas also released a video statement with the body camera footage where he said that the investigation is still “in its early stages.”
Thomas said that releasing the body camera was part of “an ongoing effort of transparency.” They posted the footage to their Facebook page as well as sending it to local media outlets.