PECOS, Texas, May 16 (UPI) -- Police shot and killed a man Thursday after he pulled a pistol and opened fire during a routine drug check on a Greyhound bus in West Texas, wounding a female passenger and critically injuring a law officer.
The bus, with a driver and 27 passengers, was parked at a bus station in Pecos when three officers of the Trans-Pecos Drug Task Force began a search about 10 a.m. CDT, according to Tela Mange, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Officer Jaime Rodriguez asked a man seated near the rear of the bus for his identification, Mange said. The passenger said he had none, only his ticket. He handed his ticket to Rodriguez, who said he was on the wrong bus.
"About that time the passenger pulled a gun from his back and pointed it at the officer," Mange said. "A struggle ensued and three shots were fired from the suspect's gun."
Officers returned fire and killed the passenger, Mange said.
Rodriguez was shot twice and the female passenger was hit once. Both were taken to the Covenant Medical Center in Lubbock where Rodriguez was reported in critical condition. The woman's condition was not immediately released.
Lynn Brown, a spokeswoman for Greyhound, said none of the other passengers was injured during the incident. The bus was en route from El Paso to Abilene in West Texas and had made a routine stop in Pecos when the shooting occurred.
Pecos is about 100 miles east of El Paso.
