Texas Cop Narrowly Escapes Ambush, Kills Suspect Instead

MESQUITE, Texas - Mesquite police have released bodycam video of two recent officer-involved shootings, one of which resulted in the death of the suspect.

The department’s release included not just body camera footage, but photos of evidence and other background information.

The first shooting happened on January 31, just after 8:30 p.m., when an officer was on routine patrol at an apartment complex in the 800 block of I-30.

During a previous shift, that officer got information from a license plate scan notification that the owner of a vehicle in the complex had an outstanding warrant.

The officer was following up on that and found the vehicle, but there was someone inside, later identified as 40-year-old Joseph Wayne Butler.

As the officer pulled up behind the vehicle, Butler is seen on video getting out of truck and fleeing on foot.

The officer chases after Butler and into a breezeway, where he is seen facing the officer armed with a gun on the officer’s bodycam video.

"It all happened so fast, but it was basically an ambush," Mesquite PD Lt. Brandon Ricketts said. "He wasn't expecting to round the corner and have Mr. Butler had now stopped and turned and was aiming a gun at him. So it was definitely an ambush."

Butler then fired at the officer and the officer returned fire. It was eight seconds from when the officer first made contact with Butler, to the time he fired at the officer, according to police.

"So if you time the videos out, it's about eight seconds from the the beginning of the pursuit until the first shots fired," Ricketts said..

The officer, who has been with the department for three years, was not injured, while Butler was hit by the gunfire twice.

"He goes from pursuit mode, and now, all of a sudden, somebody is pointing a gun, somebody is firing a gun and his brain is processing all this, and he's able to return fire while he's getting to cover," Ricketts said.

Police said officers performed CPR on Butler, but that video footage was not released. Butler was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.