Officer Shoots and Kills a Man at a Wal-Mart Parking Lot

rabenson · #1 ● 06-17-2011, 04:22 AM

The Beeville Police Department has released video of an officer involved shooting that resulted in the death of 28-year-old Anthony Albert Ponce on May 31, 2011.

The police officer had pulled Ponce over in the Beeville Walmart parking lot while checking out a reported robbery at a nearby convenience store.

Dashcam video requested by the Beeville Bee-Picayune shows Ponce open his car door and walk up to Sgt. Chris Vasquez with a gun in his hand a cigarette in his mouth.

Sgt. Vasquez backed up as he ordered Ponce to drop the weapon. What happened next is out of view of the camera, but you hear three shots fired, and the officer calls for an ambulance.

Police say Ponce pointed his weapon at the officer before the shooting. The officer is said to have performed CPR in an attempt to save Ponce's life before paramedics arrived. He later died at Christus Spohn Hospital in Beeville.

According to public records, Ponce has a lengthy criminal history that sheds some light on why he may have been so aggressive. In the last six years, Ponce was convicted twice of assault on a public servant, once in Bexar County and once in Harris County. He's also been convicted three times for DWI.

Beeville Police Chief Joe Trevino says that officer took the necessary action in this dangerous situation, but says this is a tragic event for everyone at the department. A grand jury cleared Sgt. Vasquez of any charges in the shooting just two days after the incident.