POSTED: Saturday, February 12, 2011 - 10:01pm
UPDATED: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - 12:37pm
EL PASO - We now know the name of a teen who killed himself with an El Paso County Sheriff Deputy's gun.
Deputies say Salome Alvarez, 19, wrestled the gun away from the Sheriff's Deputy Friday night around six. Deputies say before Alvarez turned the gun on himself he pointed it at the deputy.
The shooting happened in Montana Vista after the deputy questioned three men, including Alvarez, and found out that Alvarez was wanted for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Alvarez's warrant stemmed from February of 2010. At the time Sheriff's Deputies said Alvarez intentionally hit two teens with his car, pinning one of them underneath it and fracturing the other's leg.
The entire shooting is under investigation by detectives and internal affairs. Texas Rangers are also talking to witnesses.
"Right now it appears there was no wrong doing on the part of the officer, and we're very grateful the officer wasn't hurt. Of course we're going to have to look to see if there's anything we can do to protect our officers better. It's kind of alarming that a subject was able to pull the weapon out of an officer's holster like that," Sheriff Richard Wiles said.
The name of the deputy involved has not been released. He is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.