FW Officer Seriously Injured in Haltom City Shooting

One person is dead and a Fort Worth police officer is in serious condition after a shooting in Haltom City Tuesday afternoon.

Haltom City police Cpl. Joe Hackfeld said his officers were pursuing a vehicle involved in a narcotics investigation when the man ended up ditching his vehicle on Carson Street, just south of state Highway 121. Haltom City officers then set up a perimeter and searched neighboring businesses and homes.

As the search for the wanted man was under way, Officer Sharron Neal, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth Police Department, said three Fort Worth police officers happened to be at 2nd Opinion Automotive talking with the owner when they learned that a wanted man was behind the building.

Neal said that as the officers went to confront the man, he opened fire. Neal said the officers returned fire.

In the exchange, the wanted man, later identified as 32-year-old Cody Loron, and Fort Worth officer John Bell, who has been with the department since March, 1992, were shot. Bell was hit three times and remains hospitalized in serious condition with injuries that are not life-threatening.

Loron, who was shot multiple times according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner, was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital where he later died.

Given the early nature of the investigation, it’s unknown at this time how many of the officers returned fire and how many rounds were fired. It is also too early to know how many shots Loron fired at police.

"A Fort Worth police officer has been shot," said Cpl. Tracey Knight with the Fort Worth Police Department. "He is in serious condition. He is being treated here by the best doctors in the city. And so we ask for all of our citizens to keep our officer in their thoughts and prayers."

The investigation into the shooting is ongoing.