A San Antonio-area town chief of police died Saturday due to gunshot wounds suffered while serving an outstanding warrant for graffiti during a routine traffic stop.
Michael Pimentel of the Elmendorf Police Department was fatally shot just before noon at the intersection of South First Avenue and East Ninth Street where he had been waiting for the man named in the warrant to come outside the house to arrest him.
According to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, Pimentel and the suspect, identified as 24-year-old Joshua Manuel Lopez, got into a confrontation after the traffic stop around 11:30 a.m.
Pimentel suffered gunshot wounds to his stomach and shoulder during the confrontation.
The police chief was airlifted to University Hospital where he later died. The sheriff’s office will now take over the investigation.
Joshua Lopez is in custody and will face a charge of capital murder of a police officer, according to Bexar County Sheriff Susan Pamerleau.
