DPS says Horizon man shot dead after taking trooper’s taser

UPDATE #2, July 14: A Horizon City man shot dead by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper at a gas station had driven erratically to catch up with the trooper before confronting him and grabbing his stun gun, state officials said in a statement late Wednesday.

Officials confirmed the identity of the deceased, previously provided to ABC-7 by family members, as 21-year-old Jesse Joe Carranza.

In the statement, DPS offered the below account of the shooting that took place just before 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Murphy’s Express convenience store and gas station located at 13000 Eastlake Boulevard, where the on-duty trooper had stopped to fuel up his vehicle....

"A white pickup truck came from across the street, driving the wrong way down a one-way and pulled up behind the Trooper’s unit. The male driver, now identified as 21-year-old Jesse Joe Carranza of Horizon City, exited the vehicle. Carranza approached the DPS Trooper and grabbed his Taser from his duty belt. The Trooper discharged his service weapon. Carranza was wounded and taken by EMS to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead."

The trooper, whose name has not been released, was not hurt in the confrontation. DPS officials said the Texas Rangers were investigating to determine if the shooting was justified.

UPDATE #1, July 14: ABC-7 has confirmed a man shot by a state trooper after an apparent struggle at a Horizon City gas station has now died and his family has retained lawyers for a potential wrongful death case.

The father of 21-year-old Jesse Joe Carranza said Wednesday that his son had died after being shot by the trooper a day prior.

Carranza's father told ABC-7 that his son had suffered from mental health issues since graduating from Chaparral High School, but despite that - he questioned witness accounts that his son attacked the trooper.

Meantime, Carranza's mother Jessica Vargas has hired the Dallas-based Corbett and Corbett law firm to investigate her son's fatal shooting. The firm told ABC-7 they are looking into Carranza's "troubling" death as a possible case of police brutality.

Despite requests, the Texas Department of Public Safety on Wednesday released no new details about what unfolded on Tuesday afternoon.

ORIGINAL REPORT, July 13: HORIZON CITY, Texas -- A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper shot and seriously wounded a man who reportedly attacked him in Horizon City on Tuesday afternoon, according to interviews with authorities and witnesses.

The shooting happened around 2 p.m. in the 13000 block of Eastlake Boulevard at a gas station that sits next to a pair of fast-food restaurants.

While officials did not immediately provide details of what led up to the shooting, a gas station employee told ABC-7 that a state trooper who stopped to get gas was physically attacked at the pumps by a man in a white pickup truck who pulled in behind the DPS cruiser.

The eyewitness told ABC-7 that the trooper being attacked then opened fire on the man, who fell to the ground after being shot.

The wounded man was taken by ambulance to El Paso's Del Sol Medical Center in serious condition, first-responders indicated. The trooper was not injured.

Multiple law enforcement agencies - including DPS, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office and Horizon police - responded to the scene. Numerous flashing lights could be seen in the gas station parking lot and yellow crime tape was erected around a portion of it immediately following the shooting.