Sadly, this week police officer David Hofer was shot and killed in a planned ambush in Euless, Texas. I interviewed an officer with firsthand knowledge of the incident, and he told me the suspect was identified as 22-year-old Jorge Brian Gonzalez, a known meth user and dealer in the area.

Gonzalez was released from jail the same morning as the shooting, and had only served three days of his 90-day sentence before being released by the county. Gonzalez was angry at law enforcement for being arrested and set up his plan of attack after finding weapons in a house he just burglarized.

Gonzalez created barricades and a funnel-type ambush zone inside the hallway of the house. He called 911 with a fake disturbance call to lure police into the ambush. As the officers arrived, they failed to fall for his trap. Gonzalez then ran out the back door to a secondary fighting position inside of a culvert. Armed with a long-range rifle, he shot officer Hofer in the head.

Due to lack of cover and concealment, the other officers were unable to effectively engage the suspect with their pistols. Shortly after shooting the officer, Gonzalez was shot and killed by a SWAT sniper from approximately 150 meters away.

Officer Hofer is the 16th officer killed in America in 2016. There have also been eight K9 officer deaths in 2016. Officer Hofer had been with Euless PD since 2014, and before that, he was a police officer in New York City for five years. If Gonzalez would have finished out his sentence, this shooting may have been prevented.

Gonzalez had an extensive history of drug use and violence (July, 2011 theft charge; an August, 2011 aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge that was reduced to a misdemeanor assault charge on a guilty plea; and two terrorist-threat charges in summer, 2015).

Images courtesy of WFAA and Fox4