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Angel Barcena, Patrolman
Born: August 01, 1966
End of Watch: September 25, 2004 |
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An El Paso police officer who had been on the
job less than a month was shot and killed early Saturday while responding
to a family fight call on the West Side.
Officer Angel Barcena, 38, a newlywed who graduated from the academy Aug.
26, died at Beaumont Army Medical Center after being shot at 12:46 a.m.
at a home at 612 Bristol. Police arrested 42-year-old Theodore Michael Berry,
of that address, who is facing a capital murder charge.
"For
a chief of police, this is your worst nightmare -- to have an officer killed
in the line of duty," Chief Richard Wiles, wearing a black band across
his badge, said.
"This is certainly a sad day for the El
Paso Police Department and the city of El Paso," said Wiles, who at
one point choked up emotionally as he spoke about Barcena during an afternoon
news conference.
Barcena was the first El Paso police officer killed in the line of duty
in more than a decade -- a shock for a city that has been ranked as the
second-safest large city in the United States.
Barcena and Officer Daniel Delgado, his field training officer, were responding
to a 911 call from a woman about an intoxicated man trying to break into
the house, police said. Police said the woman was Berry's wife.
When the officers arrived, screaming was coming from inside the double garage
attached to the middle-class home, police said. One of the doors was about
3 feet off the ground, and the officers entered and found Berry allegedly
trying to break down the door leading into the interior of the house.
Berry allegedly drew a .38-caliber revolver, and the officers retreated
because they had no cover in the garage, Wiles said. Sometime during the
confrontation, Barcena fired but missed with his Taser, an electrical weapon
intended to incapacitate a target. Police never fired their handguns.
Berry allegedly fired two shots, hitting Barcena once in the back of the
upper left leg near the buttocks as the officer exited the garage, police
said. The shot severed an artery, causing the young officer to collapse
as he reached the end of the driveway. Delgado pulled his partner behind
a car, fearing additional gunfire.
It was unclear how Berry was arrested after he came out of the house. The
shooting was still under investigation. The woman was not injured.
"The fallen officer is a hero," said police union lawyer
Gerry Cichon, who went to the scene. "If they didn't get there when
they did, (Berry) would have killed the lady."
Berry, with a red welt on his right cheek and wearing scrubs, walked silently
as he was led by homicide detectives into a car on Saturday evening after
hours of questioning at police headquarters. He was jailed for alleged capital
murder and, if convicted, could face the death penalty.
Flags flying at half-staff, black ribbons on badges and a somber mood marked
El Paso law enforcement Saturday as the news quickly spread that for the
first time since 1991 a police officer had been killed in the line of duty.
"The mood is very down. Everybody is in shock," said
Officer Mario Pagan of the Westside Regional Command Center, where the newly
minted officer was stationed.
New officers never patrol alone and are assigned to a field training officer
for the first six to nine months of their probationary period, police said.
Barcena was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Barcena was a graduate of the first peace officer academy that trained both
police and sheriff's recruits.
"It hurts all of us. There
is a pain in hearts," sheriff's spokesman Rick Glancey said. "This
young officer attended training with many of our students who got to know
him during training at the academy. A couple of our recruits were on duty
last night when they were informed, and they took it very hard."
Mayor Joe Wardy said Barcena's killing highlighted the dangers police face
daily. "This young officer lost his life trying to help people,"
Wardy said. He added that the death was a "wake-up call" to the
problem of domestic violence in El Paso.
"We ask the city
of El Paso to open up their hearts and offer a prayer to (the Barcena) family,"
said Chris McGill, president of the El Paso Municipal Police Officers' Association.
"There are no words to express the amount of grief officers are feeling
right now."
Source: El Paso Times
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