Del Rio Trucker Killed in Shooting Incident with Police
By: Karen Gleason, Del Rio News-Herald
The driver of an 18-wheeler died Tuesday afternoon after he was shot by Del Rio Police Department and Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office deputies on the city’s east side.
The dead man was identified as Del Rio resident Pedro Saldivar, 50.
The fatal shooting occurred just west of the parking lot of the Northico convenience store and gas station, 101 Charles Drive, near the intersection of Charles Drive and U.S. Highway 90.
The DRPD received a 9-1-1 call about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday about a reckless driver in a gray 18-wheeler in the vicinity of East Gibbs Street and Bedell Avenue, said DRPD Capt. Fred Knoll Jr., the department’s public information officer.
Knoll said VVSO deputies and DRPD officers located an 18-wheeler matching the description, a gray Peterbilt pulling an empty cattle trailer, stopped on the west side of the convenience store facing north.
A press release issued by the DRPD following the incident notes, “Unknown circumstances then resulted in a firearms discharge.”
A video of the shooting, posted on social media several hours after the incident, shows the gray 18-wheeler parked off Charles Drive on the west side of the convenience store. About 30 seconds after the start of the video, the truck appears to back up, then to lurch forward. At that point, multiple gunshots can be heard. The shooting lasts for seven or eight seconds as the truck continues to roll forward.
About a minute later, the truck again begins to reverse, and another round of shots can be heard, this time lasting for about eight seconds, followed by four single gunshots. After the shooting ends, the truck continues to roll backward until it strikes a parked DRPD patrol car.
A statement posted on Del Rio Mayor Robert Garza’s Facebook page Tuesday reads, “The reports indicate that the driver of an 18 wheel tractor truck caused a disturbance inside the store, threatened individuals with a machete and later attempted to run over some officers.”
Knoll said at the scene of the shooting that Saldivar was the sole occupant of the 18-wheeler at the time officers shot at the truck.
No officers were injured in the incident, DRPD Interim Chief Waylon Bullard said at the scene.
Garza said westbound traffic on U.S. Highway 90 was temporarily diverted around the scene of the shooting as DRPD detectives and their counterparts at the sheriff’s office began processing the crime scene.
Knoll’s press release said the Texas Ranger Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety will conduct an investigation of the incident.
Reach Karen Gleason at 734-3021 or email her at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
Printed by permission of the Del Rio News-Herald.
Photo courtesy of Karen Gleason/Del Rio News-Herald
