Police: Officer shoots armed car passenger dead during stop

An officer shot dead an armed male car passenger who refused the officer’s demand that he drop his handgun during a traffic stop, police said.

The incident happened about 9:50 p.m. Friday on the 4440 block of Tetons Drive in Northeast El Paso.

Police spokesman Darrel Petry said officers stopped the car for displaying an expired registration sticker, but as one of the officers approached the car the passenger brandished a handgun and yelled at him.

Petry says the man refused to comply with the officer’s demand that he drop the weapon, so he was shot dead.

No identities of those involved in the incident have been released.