Family: Officer ‘Was A Wonderful Person’
Officer Angel Barcena, 38, who graduated from the Police Academy Aug. 26 and was recently married, died early Saturday at Beaumont Army Medical Center shortly after being shot. Theodore Michael Berry, 42, was arrested and charged with capital murder.
Barcena was the first El Paso police officer killed in the line of duty in more than a decade. Police said Barcena was shot after he and his field training officer, Daniel Delgado, responded to a 911 call from a woman identified as Berry ‘s ex-wife that an intoxicated man was trying to break into the house.
ABC-7 reporter Richard Jordan spoke with the suspect’s ex-wife on Sunday. The woman, who declined an on-camera interview, said the reason the relationship ended because she feared for her life. “I wanted to get out before he would kill me,” she said.
The woman says she thought Berry was in Oregon and had no idea he was actually living very close to her. Shea also said Berry had a shotgun and he was very violent throughout their marriage — throwing furniture around the house, and breaking windows. The couple was together for six years, but she says she has not been in contact with him since 1998.
The ex-wife also says the suspect had problems with drugs and alcohol, and she became very afraid of him and she still is today. Berry was arrested shortly after the shooting. The woman was not injured.
ABC-7 also spoke with members of Barcena??s family, who appeared composed while dealing with their grief. ??I ask myself why did it happen to my son because my son was a wonderful person, but its something that we never know you know,?� said Ricardo Barcena. ??You know, I wish it happened to me.?� ??Everywhere he went he had friends, and he would carry his badge, and show them. I’m a police officer,?� he said. ??I think he would have been a very good police officer.”
Newly graduated officers don’t patrol alone and are assigned to a field training officer for their first six to nine months of a probationary period, police said. Barcena was wearing a bulletproof vest.
