Texas police chief shot dead during traffic stop

Not sure if this has been posted.
Remove mods if I have doubled up on a thread.

www.reuters.com...

Michael Pimentel died of multiple gunshot wounds suffered in a confrontation with a motorist shortly before noon in Elmendorf, a rural community of about 1,500 people just southeast of San Antonio, said Bexar County Sheriff Susan Pamerleau.

“This tragedy today reinforces the fact that our law enforcement officers’ jobs are dangerous and you never know what they might encounter,” Pamerleau said. “Here was a quiet and peaceful community in south Texas that in an instant turned to tragedy."

Shooter has been arrested and charged.

Joshua Manuel Lopez, 24, was taken into custody on charges of capital murder of a police officer, Pamerleau said. When Lopez was stopped, he was wanted on a misdemeanor warrant for graffiti, she said.

He was wanted for graffiti, then he shoots a cop.. what was he on?

His LAST leg...THIS really helps with brutality.

Don't be giving the Police any reason to stop you while driving, one of their own has been shot dead, this is not going to be good for the public.

a reply to: cavtrooper7

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord,

and let Your perpetual light shine upon him.

May his soul,

and the souls of all the faithful departed,

through the mercy of God,

rest in peace.

Amen.

He was wanted for graffiti, then he shoots a cop.. what was he on?

He was probably ' huffing ' the spray paint he used . He is probably stupid ( 24 years old and tagging ? ) or retarded .
He may have a rap sheet longer than the people the cops regularly shoot . whom someone will call an innocent boy.

This is why cops have to be ready to shoot during what should be a nice , cordial traffic stop. RIP.

He was wanted for graffiti, then he shoots a cop.. what was he on?

Why do you assume he was "on" something?
Why do you assume this was a bad thing? We know nothing about either of the people involved. Maybe the cop has been earning this karma for his whole career. I know of plenty of people who are tired of being afraid of cops and see any interaction with LEOS as a life threatening experience. Kill or be killed could have been in the guy's head. Maybe the drug he was on was fear?

a reply to: keenasbro

oh dear this cannot be good....anyone being shot in cold blood whether being law enforcement or civilian is just crap.....what now ?...law enforcement are touchy enough without these kinds of incidents ...

No... That's too much.

Let's wait until we have all the facts before they arrest and charge this Lopez guy. I mean, isn't Mr. Lopez innocent until proven guilty? They should release him then delay this a couple of months while the police gather all the evidence and blah, blah, blah... Whatever...

I'm tired.

Shhhhhhh... Just, shhhhhhh

a reply to: charles1952

The people supporting this cop killer are sick. You disgust me even more than LEO's who are corrupt.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Are you as disgusted at the good cops who won't cross that thin blue line and arrest the cops who break laws and deprive people of their rights? Are you as disgusted at the system that allows them to collect a paycheck for enforcement of law on citizens but not on each other? Are you disgusted at the cops who stand by on their # covered hoofs as their buddies beat and abuse citizens who they "swore" to protect?

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
The people supporting this cop killer are sick. You disgust me even more than LEO's who are corrupt.

I couldn't agree more. While I can understand the dislike folks have gotten over the state of a lot of our LEO's, there are those that do not partake in any of that stuff.

There are LEO'S who have dreamed of nothing BUT becoming a policeman from the time they could walk. Those that lived in or around areas where they saw injustice and wanted to do something about it. Those who were abused and hurt and wanted to do something that could prevent others from having to suffer the same fate. Those who wanted nothing more than to feed their families while doing something they considered honorable and noble.

We have problems with out of control LEO's and no one can argue that fact, but when we rejoice in one dying before we even know anything about him, it is a little scary to me. We have a bad habit of getting offended when we are stereotyped or painted with a broad brush, yet we do things like this as if we have forgotten how unfair it was when it happened to us.

This man could have been the most brutal guy out there, but the again he could have been one of the only ones in his department that actually gave a shiite about anyone/anything. We aren't doing any good when we remove those types as it just leaves more room for the corruption and abuse to grow without anyone to slow it down or bring it to light.

I'm sure some will disagree with what I have written. But it is JMO.

a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe
Those cops you referred to about not being a part of that stuff are the same ones who are not upholding the laws meant for everyone. Laws that apply to police too. If laws are only meant to be applied to some what does that mean for the rest of us? They expect respect, no they demand respect, but I see no honor in anyone who won't clean their own backyard before they go clean someone else's. I don't want anyone to be harmed in any way, but I feel no sympathy for any cop who gets hurt doing their job and especially no sympathy for those not doing their job.

This is what happens when cops don't take per-cautions. Does anyone thing this officer would have hesitated to shoot if given the opportunity?

Well this is very bad for the people in this community.
It is a shame the cop had to die, especially if it really was out of cold bloood.
Both parties, not just the cop, should be able to deal with each other without killing the other

Maybe the drug he was on was fear?

That being the case, there will be a lot more people on "that" drug.

a reply to: Kyuss

Note: I am not condoning anything or advocating anything here, just stating my observations and opinions and right now this year there are a lot of police and minority issues happening that are not being shown on the main stream news outlets.
Yes, fear is the number one cause of death on the planet. If he was wanted for graffiti, would it be probable to say he was a gang member? And if he was a gang member, then why are these gangs allowed to continue usually without anyone bothering them? There is no big agenda to quash gangs in America.

Obama doesn't mind when tragedies like this happen, it helps his agenda and Fast and Furious is proof of that. (giving guns to the big gangs).

Yes this is very bad when police get murdered like this, but what is the media keeping out of the spotlight?

There have been a LOT of Mexican nationals murdered by the Border Patrol and the one where a 14 year old kid was killed by them made the country of Mexico seeth with rage because of it. I wonder if maybe there will be more "revenge" killings, and also wonder if THIS was one of those. Or the guy could have been afraid of deportation. (When filled with fear for your life, how much prodding would it take to shoot someone?

In Seattle the police were kind of on a spree of abusing minorities and killed the brother of a kid that was from Mexico. So the surviving brother went right up to a police cruiser and shot the police. Those kids were gang members but no one ever said anything about doing anything about shutting down the gangs.

People from south of the border are always fearful of police even when they are citizens, and when you have fearful police, and fearful citizens confronting each other on the street, it just isn't always going to end well.

There is a huge pattern of police violence against minorities especially in border states right now. None of this is good. But don't ask our president to enforce any of the border type laws. Even if this kid was not an illegal resident alien, with the back door border policy that our feds are utilizing that let felons and criminals come into the country without any trouble at all, you can expect A LOT MORE OF THIS.

a reply to: Psykotik

Dear Psykotik,

No, Shhhhhhhhh-ing was not part of my plan. I wanted to grab the thread by the throat. I wanted to control it absolutely ruthlessly. I wanted to shout in everybody's face.

"No! Not for the few seconds you see these words. You will not even try to get some political advantage, or make some point. For just a few seconds, you will turn to God and consider this man's eternal soul. You will turn away from this arguing and submit to God and ask for mercy for this poor man's soul."

"I can't to anything more than that. Just interrupt the posturing long enough to get you to remember God and the eternity facing each of us. You will go back to making points, but for just an instant your thoughts were directed rightly."

Sorry, Psykotik, but I just had to shout Stop! The blame is mine, completely.

With respect,
Charles1952

So for LEOs this life is important.

Why isn't all life important?

People that never feared the LEO now have reason to fear them. This is the reaction to the LEO brutality. All loss of life is bad. The LEOs created this mess, now they need to gain public trust again.