Police release names, photos of suspects in officer shooting

August 25, 2008 - 6:26 PM

 EDINBURG - Police are looking for 22-year-old Jorge Luis Gonzalez Anaya and 20-year-old Fidel Tijerina Garza in connection with shots fired at an Edinburg police officer.

Edinburg police state in a release that both are now facing arrest warrants on attempted capital murder charges from the Aug. 22 incident and that Anaya allegedly is the one who pulled the trigger.

Edinburg police chief Quirino Munoz previously declined to release the officer's name involved in the shooting and would only say that he has been with the force for nearly 10 years.

The officer attempted to pull over a pickup truck around 11:20 p.m. Friday heading south on Guin Road for speeding and blinker signal violations, according to police.

The pickup truck did pull off to the side of the road, but before the patrol car came to a complete stop, allegedly Anaya sat up from the open bed of the pickup truck and fired several rounds at the vehicle, according to police.

Two bullets pierced the middle of the officer's windshield - but did not strike the officer. He has minor injuries from the glass fragments, The Monitor previously reported.

The truck then took off and other patrol cars caught up to it by the time it ran into a fence on Veronica Street in a subdivision off of M Road just south of Monte Cristo Road.

Three occupants fled on foot and police instantly caught the driver, 20-year-old Oscar Cantu from Edinburg. He was charged Sunday with attempted capital murder and evading arrest, police said.

This is the first time in six years that someone fired at an Edinburg police officer, Munoz previously said.

Jackie Leatherman covers Hidalgo County government and general assignments at The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4424.