Texas police officer dies after shot in head during gunbattle with robbery suspects

A Fort Worth, Texas, police officer died Friday, less than 24 hours after he was shot in the head following a confrontation with a group armed robbery suspects.
Officer Garrett Hull, a 17-year veteran of the department, died of his injuries just after 9:40 p.m. CT, the Dallas Moring News reported.

"We’ve lost a true hero," Fort Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald said at a news conference. "Someone who has dedicated more than one tour of service to this great city and was senselessly killed by three known criminals — two of which are in custody now.”

Hull, 40, and 10 other officers were conducting surveillance Thursday night on three men suspected in at least 15 robberies of mostly Latino bars in the Fort Worth area when the group committed an actual robbery at the Los Vaqueros Bar.
The officers confronted the suspects as they fled the bar. One of the suspects, identified by police as Dacion Steptoe, then opened fire. Hull was hit in the head and Steptoe was killed when the other officers returned fire.
Hull was rushed to a hospital where officers across the region gathered to support his family, KVTV-TV of Laredo, Texas, reported.
The officer is survived by his wife and two daughters, the Morning News reported.


It was unclear how many shots were fired. The other two suspects tried to flee but were arrested soon after.
Los Vaqueros Bar owner Victor Zepeda told KXAS-TV said there were more than a dozen people hanging out at the bar when two men wearing masks burst in and demanded customers hand over their wallets and cell phones,
Surveillance video shows one of the robbers pistol-whipping a male patron.
In a statement, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price called police officers heroes.
“We take for granted that we are protected by these men and women in uniform, who are serving out community every day and fighting against the criminals that took Officer Hull’s life,” her statement read.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/09/15...-suspects.html

RIP
Prayers sent

Here is the ODMP

Police Officer Garrett Hull succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained the previous night as he and other members of the Criminal Intelligence Unit attempted to apprehend three armed robbery suspects.

The officers had been conducting surveillance of the three suspects, who had been involved in over 15 armed robberies in which three people had been shot. The suspects entered a bar on the 400 block of West Biddison Street shortly before midnight and robbed the 10 patrons at gunpoint. As they fled from the building the officers attempted to take them into custody.

All three suspects attempted to flee on foot into the surrounding neighborhood. During the foot pursuit, one of the men opened fire, striking Officer Hull in the head. Other officers returned fire and killed the subject before placing Officer Hull in a patrol car and transporting him to a hospital.

The other two suspects were apprehended nearby.

Officer Hull succumbed to his wounds the following evening.

Officer Hull had served with the Fort Worth Police Department for 17 years. He is survived by his wife and two daughter.

Chief of Police Joel Fitzgerald
Fort Worth Police Department
505 W. Felix Street
Fort Worth, TX 76111

Phone: (817) 392-4200

https://www.odmp.org/officer/23766-p...r-garrett-hull