A Dallas police officer is recovering after a shootout left him injured Friday evening in Oak Cliff, police say.[[397163641,R]]
The officer was conducting an investigation of an unrelated property crime when a deadly shooting unfolded in front of him, just before 7 p.m. in the 300 block of Brownlee Avenue.
The officer – in plain clothes, driving an unmaked police vehicle, whose identity has not been released – returned fire, and stopped the shooter, but not before he was struck in the foot.
Dallas Fire-Rescue medics rushed the officer to Baylor University Medical Center, and he is expected to be OK, police said.
Three other men were taken to the hospital. Police said the suspect, 24-year-old George Zapata and the man he shot died. Authorities say Zapata also shot a second man, who was listed in stable condition Saturday at a hospital.
During a brief press conference late Friday a police spokesman did not take any questions.
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Several people in the neighborhood heard the gunshots and saw the aftermath.
"We heard multiple gunshots and usually we just stay in there because you hear gunshots, like almost every day around here," Brisalinda Maldonado said.
"I think right now all around the country is dangerous. It's just the atmosphere right now with people itself. We've survived this. I've lived here all my life, but it's not frequent. But it is – it's a way of life out here," said a man who did not want to be identified.
