Criminal Justice Quote: Small Town Officer Shot to Death Making Misdemeanor Arrest

     The police chief in a small Texas town just southwest of San Antonio was fatally shot Saturday August 23, 2014 while conducting a traffic stop…Elmendorf, Texas Police Chief Michael Pimentel was shot after pulling over Joshua Lopez, 24, to serve an active misdemeanor warrant for graffiti…Lopez shot Pimentel several times. The chief was airlifted to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

   Lopez was taken into custody without incident and will face a charge of capital murder for shooting a police officer.

     Elmendorf, located 25 miles southeast of San Antonio, has a population of 1,500. The town has two paid police officers and ten reserve officers…Pimentel is the fifth law enforcement officer to die in Texas this year. Three were killed by gunfire. In Texas, thirteen officers died in the line of duty last year.

"Texas Police Chief Fatally Shot During Traffic Stop," Fox News, August 24, 2014

   

Gabriel Martinez Arrested for Murder and Dismemberment of Hervey Mendellin

     Police have made an arrest in connection with the high-profile murder of a retired flight attendant whose dismembered body was found near the iconic Hollywood sign in 2012….Gabriel Campos Martinez, 38, was arrested on March 9, 2014 on suspicion of murdering 66-year-old Hervey Coronado Mendellin, a retired Mexicana Airlines employee….

     Mendellin's severed head was discovered in January 2012 by two women who were walking their dogs on a trail by the Hollywood sign…Additional body parts were found in close proximity to the head….

     Martinez is being held without bail in San Antonio, Texas, and awaiting extradition. He was described in an April 2012 affidavit as Mendellin's live-in boyfriend. Mendellin lived in an apartment complex south of Bronson Canyon Park, about five miles from the Hollywood sign…He was a retiree after working 25 years with Mexicana Airlines

Andrew Blankstein and Elisha Fieldstadt, "Suspect Arrested for Body Parts Found Near Hollywood Sign," NBC News, March 10, 2014