Garrett Hull, 40, a 17-year veteran of the department, was critically wounded and the man who shot him was also killed
An undercover police officer from Fort Worth, Texas who was shot in the head during a gunfight with a group of armed robbers, has died.
Officer Garrett Hull, a 17-year veteran of the force, was pronounced dead at 9:40pm Friday at John Peter Smith Hospital.
Hundred of his fellow officers were at the hospital when they heard the news after gathering to keep a vigil and show support.
‘We’ve lost a true hero,’ said police chief Joel Fitzgerald. ‘Someone who has dedicated more than one tour of service to this great city…our whole department is hurting right now.’
‘Officer Hull’s death is the worst case scenario for our men and women in blue,’ Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said at a news conference.
Hull was the first officer from the department to die in the line of duty since 2006 according to Dallas News.
He was watching a trio of armed robbery suspects around midnight when they entered a sports bar.
Police tried to stop a robbery that occurred about midnight Friday in a Fort Worth bar
Hull, 40, was with at least 10 other officers conducting surveillance on a group of people suspected in a series of robberies around Fort Worth
The three men walked in with guns drawn but Hull and a bunch of other officers were waiting outside and confronted them as they tried to run from the establishment and jump into an SUV.
Police said one of the men, Dacion Steptoe, aimed at Hull and he was shot in the head.
Another officer returned fire, killing Steptoe, according to WFAA.
Two other men, Samuel Mayfield and Timothy Huff, have been identified by authorities as being Steptoe’s accomplices.
The trio are suspected of being involved in as many as 17 armed robberies
This image shows footage of a previous robbery at the same bar in which patrons were pushed to the floor and threatened at gunpoint
The trio are suspected of being involved in as many as 17 armed robberies.
The robberies are mainly of Latino bars, in which three people have so far been shot.
Officials say that on the night Hull was shot, the three men were returning to the same bar they had robbed in July.
Hull is survived by a wife and two daughters.