Police fatally shoot driver of stolen car at truck stop near Texas-New Mexico state line
The driver of a stolen car was shot and killed by police when he allegedly drove toward officers trying to stop him at a truck stop near the state line in Anthony, Texas, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office said.
The Sheriff's Office reported that 44-year-old Apolinar Lozano III died at an El Paso hospital after being shot in a Friday afternoon confrontation at the Love's Travel Stop on Mountain Pass Boulevard next to Interstate 10.
Shots were fired by an officer each from the Anthony (Texas) Police Department and New Mexico State Police, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office said. The shooting is under investigation by the Sheriff's Office with assistance from the Texas Rangers.
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The incident started when Las Cruces police were notified that a Dodge Challenger that had been reported stolen in Las Cruces on Jan. 10 was on I-10 headed south toward Texas, according to a sheriff's news statement.
The Dodge was soon spotted by law enforcement officers in unmarked vehicles, who followed the car and asked for assistance from other agencies as the car approached the Texas state line, officials said.
The stolen car was followed into the parking lot of the Love's Travel Stop in Anthony, just over the Texas-New Mexico border.
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When marked police patrol vehicles arrived at the truck stop, Lozano allegedly attempted to drive away. The driver allegedly went toward the police vehicles, hit a New Mexico State Police patrol vehicle and accelerated in attempt to flee, the Sheriff's Office said.
"As the vehicle was driving towards officers an officer from Anthony Police Department and an officer from New Mexico State Police fired shots," the Sheriff's Office stated. The number of shots fired was not disclosed.
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Lozano was shot and was taken to a hospital in El Paso, where he later died.
A passenger in the car, Ignacio Jurtado Sandoval, 43, of El Paso, was not injured and was arrested on warrants on charges of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and drug possession. He remains incarcerated at the El Paso County Jail in Downtown on a total bond of $82,000.
The names of the officers involved in the shooting have not been disclosed.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Driver of stolen car dies in police shooting in Anthony, Texas
