'Things Went Bad Real Quick' in Fatal Shooting of Officer

A police officer in San Antonio died Friday of wounds suffered when he and his partner were shot by a man they intended to question about a vehicle break-in, police said. Officer Miguel Moreno, a nine-year veteran of the police force, was shot in the head during the encounter Thursday, the AP reports. The gunman fired on Moreno and partner Julio Cavazos as they stepped out of their patrol car. Cavazos also was shot but returned fire and attempted to pull Moreno out of the line of fire. Cavazos underwent surgery and is expected to recover, police Chief William McManus said. The gunman died in the shootout.

The officers were patrolling north of downtown when they decided to question two men because they were near the vehicle that had been broken into, McManus said. He said the officers didn't consider the men suspects. The gunman was shot in the buttocks and as he attempted to flee he suffered a head wound that may have been self-inflicted. McManus said the second man was unaware that his companion would pull a weapon and has been cooperating with investigators. He was arrested on outstanding municipal warrants but released. "All they were going to do was contact these two individuals, contact them to get their identification, in the event that anything did happen," McManus said. "And things went bad real quick." (More police shooting stories.)