LA PAZ COUNTY, Arizona -- The Arizona Department of Public Safety has released body camera video from a September 2017 traffic stop that led to a pursuit and a shootout between a suspect and troopers and Border Patrol agents.
The case report states that the driver, Marco Ruiz-Zazueta, picked up his nephew, Rodolfo Ballardo, before the two drove to Gilbert to buy methamphetamine and heroin and were later pulled over in La Paz County for a suspended license and registration and for having two blue lights on the front of their Mustang, according to KPHO-TV.
In the video, Trooper Joshua McDonnell can be heard asking whether there were any weapons in the car, which they responded "no."
Officials said that Ballardo gave the trooper a fake name, which prompted him to ask Zazueta to step out of the car. Zazueta then claimed to not know Ballardo's name.
"Come on, man. Don't lie to me. If he's lying to me we're going to have issues," McDonnell tells him.
The body camera video abruptly ends shortly after that when officials say McDonnell's body camera fell off and hit the asphalt when Ballardo stepped out of the car and shot at him.
Once the body camera is turned back on, Zazueta is in the backseat of the patrol car and Ballardo had already fled in the Mustang.
Ballardo drove several miles on I-10 before troopers spotted him and gunfire was exchanged again. Ballardo exited his vehicle and ran up to a semi-truck that was parked. The driver of the semi-truck was sleeping and Ballardo told him he would kill him if he didn't get out.
The driver of the semi-truck then ran toward troopers and told them what happened.
Border Patrol agents assisted troopers when they found the semi with no headlights on and troopers noted hearing gunshots as they approached the truck and they returned fire.
In body camera video, troopers pulled Ballardo out of the truck and performed first aid until paramedics arrived. He later died at the hospital.
Zazueta was arrested on several charges.
