Suspect in Midland, Texas, shooting had fired at a police officer days earlier, officials say

Police arrived in the area in response to reports of an active shooter when Mata Villarreal started firing at officers, said Midland Police Chief Greg Snow. Several officers were pinned down behind their patrol cars and had to be rescued by an armored vehicle, Snow said.

Mata Villarreal was found dead inside the building just a few hours after the shooting began, police said. They did not say how he died.

Police then got anyone stranded out of the area. “We moved to deny more targets for this active shooter,” Snow said.

Midland Mayor Lori Blong said authorities used robot and drone footage to confirm the shooter was dead.

Mata Villarreal, of nearby Odessa, was wanted for attempted capital murder of a peace officer after firing multiple times at a Midland police officer on Wednesday, the state’s public safety agency said.

The officer, who wasn't injured, fired back after initially trying to pull over Mata Villarreal, who drove away, investigators said. His vehicle was found empty a short distance away, they said.

Friday’s standoff happened about a half-mile (1 kilometer) from where the shots were fired at the police officer Wednesday.

Mata Villarreal was previously convicted on a 2009 charge of unlawfully carrying a firearm in San Angelo, according to Texas criminal history records. Court records also show Mata Villarreal was arrested a handful of other times.

He was charged in 2003 and 2004 for unlawfully carrying a weapon and unlawful possession of a prohibited weapon, but both cases appear to have been dismissed as part of a plea. He also pleaded no contest to a domestic violence charge in 2008 that was later dismissed.

As police responded to Friday's shooting, dozens of squad cars and law enforcement vehicles descended along what’s normally a busy roadway lined with hotels and auto businesses a few miles west of Midland’s downtown.

Andrea Mendias said she heard what sounded like a small explosion at the closed veterinary clinic next to the body shop where she works and saw a number of heavily armed police officers rush into the parking lot. Some appeared to go inside the building.

Mendias said she earlier heard what sounded like at least 40 gunshots.

Video from Mendias showed officers pouring out of the back of an armored police vehicle and police deploying robots into the area.

Midland Memorial Hospital said four people underwent surgery and that five had been treated and released.

The city with about 140,000 residents sits in the heart of the state’s oil and gas region and was near the site of a deadly shooting rampage in 2019.

In that shooting, a gunman who had been fired from his oil services job killed seven people and wounded two dozen others while firing at random as he drove around the Odessa and Midland areas. The two cities are more than 300 miles (482 kilometers) west of Dallas.

Associated Press reporter Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed.