EULESS, Texas — A police officer died in surgery and a suspect was also fatally shot Tuesday afternoon in a gunfight in a neighborhood park, officials said.
The officer killed was David S. Hofer, 29, who came to Euless in January 2014 after five years of service with the New York Police Department.
He went to J.A. Carr Park at 2:47 p.m. Tuesday after reports of a suspicious person and possible shots fired. Hofer approached the armed suspect, who opened fire, striking the officer.
Other officers responding to the gunfire fired at the suspect, who was hit multiple times and pronounced dead after being transported to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, according to Euless Police Chief Michael Brown.Hofer was transported to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Grapevine, where he died in surgery.
“This community will not forget David’s servant heart and dry wit,” Brown said at a brief news conference Tuesday night.
The suspect has not been identified.
As news of the shooting spread among the tight-knit community, residents were stunned and saddened.
“Euless is one big family,” Mayor Linda Martin said. “Honestly, I’m having trouble controlling my tears.”
She said officers will continue the investigation overnight.
At the park, several people gathered to place flowers and a sign in honor of the fallen officer. Later, people put flowers in front of the Euless police station, about a mile from the park.
“This is a park I grew up playing in,” said Eric Love, a Euless native who now lives in Hurst. “I grew up in this town. There’s a lot of good people here. … This officer did not have to die.”
Hofer, who lived in Plano, is survived by his fiance, parents, sister and brother, city officials said.
He graduated from Saint Ann’s High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., and earned his bachelor’s degree from New York University in 2008.
Hofer’s death was the second in the line of duty in Euless, a city of 53,000 in Northeast Tarrant County.
The other officer was Michael Ray Williamson, who was killed by a drunken driver in 1982, city officials said.
Williamson had been on the job less than a year when he was killed and left behind a wife and six children. A son of his works as a Euless firefighter.
The Michael Williamson Rookie of the Year award is given annually to the department’s top rookie, and in 2014, the city dedicated Officer Michael R. Williamson Memorial Drive in his honor.
Copyright 2016 Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Tribune News Service
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/northeast-tarrant/article63396122.html#storylink=cpy
