Fort Worth

Fort Worth Police Release Body Camera Video of Fatal Shooting

Fort Worth Police released three videos showing a fatal officer involved shooting on Monday that happened as officers responded to a robbery in progress call.

The shooting happened the night of Dec. 2, 2014 at a Gas Pipe store on Camp Bowie Boulevard. Police had hoped to release the video in the weeks after the shooting, which the department determined was legal use of force. However, they were unable to release the video until the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office gave the department the go-ahead.

Police were able to do so on Monday after a grand jury no-billed Officer Eduardo Gasca last week.

The three videos last only about two minutes. Two of the view points are from the on-officer body cameras that 600 Fort Worth officers have now been issued and wear. The third vantage point is from the dash cam of a patrol cruiser.

The released video shows only 2:15 of the incident. From the time the assist officer arrives at the parking lot to just after the robbery suspect, Gilbert Reyna, is shot by Officer Gasca.

“He (Reyna) charges the officer, with a bat in one hand and  screwdriver in the other,” said Cpl. Tracey Knight at a press conference releasing the video.

The videos first show the officers arriving and looking over the scene, establishing a perimeter while waiting for additional units to arrive. About 90 seconds after the officers arrive a female clerk runs from the store. Officers instruct her to lie on the ground, as they needed to determine who she was. 

While the assist officer takes the woman to his patrol car, Reyna emerges from the side of the store and runs straight for Officer Gasca.

Cpl. Knight says Gasca retreated approximately 21 feet before the distance between them became so far that he feared for his life.

“The officers on scene did exactly what they were taught,” Cpl. Knight said. “They gave verbal commands, they retreated when they could and when there was absolutely no other option, lethal forced was used and he shot the suspect.”

The video shows it took only four or five seconds from the time Reyna emerged from the store until Officer Gasca fired a single, ultimately fatal shot.

“Officers have to make decisions in split seconds, not seconds, split seconds,” Cpl. Knight said.

Officer Gasca was placed on routine paid administrative leave following the shooting, but returned to work weeks later after the department cleared him in the shooting.

Currently 600 of the 1,800 Fort Worth police officers have been issued body cameras. Most of those cameras are for the 800 officers on patrol in the city, but some specialized units also have them.

Fort Worth police is one of the first departments in the country to use the cameras so broadly in its department. This is the first shooting incident captured on the body cameras.

The department believes the cameras assist in transparency during high profile incident, like this one, but in the future videos cannot be released until the district attorney’s office gives them permission to do so.

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