Man Shot in Grand Prairie Sting Operation

An armed man escaped serious injury Friday afternoon after a Grand Prairie officer shot him in the head during a sting operation.

Police said the sting operation was conducted because of a recent string of robberies in the past month in which an armed man robbed pedestrians.

During the sting, an armed man tried to rob an undercover police officer in the 2400 block of South Carrier Parkway. Several undercover cars were also in the area.

When the officer threw down the money, the armed man picked it up and ran into a nearby apartment complex, where undercover officers were waiting for him.

The man continued to run. During the chase, he turned and pulled out a gun, police said. Before he could fire a shot, a Grand Prairie officer fired three times, grazing the man once in the head.

The man, whose identity has not yet been released, was transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The officer was not injured.

"This is a very brazen crime -- especially to do it three times in the same location, to go and do it a fourth time to an undercover officer," Detective Lyle Gensler said. "This is a good thing to get someone like this off the street."

One of the officers bullets went through the window of a nearby apartment and a wall before landing on the kitchen counter. The family that lives in the apartment was home at the time, upstairs with its newborn son.

"[It] kind of spooked us a little bit, because, man, what if, like, we were downstairs and it would've hit somebody here, somebody innocent? So it was a scary experience. But thank God we're here," said Miguel Martinez. "I guess their first reaction is to shoot, but I guess I think next time they should be more cautious about it because this is an apartment area, you know? A lot of families here."

No one in the apartment was injured.

The officer was placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard after a shooting.

NBC 5's Amanda Guerra contributed to this report.

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