SAGINAW, Texas (AP) — A police officer is recovering in intensive care after being shot as authorities were serving arrest and search warrants on a suspect in a 6-year-old's death.
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Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson says Detective Charles Lodatto is out of surgery after being shot in the groin. Dr. William Witham of Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth said officers and emergency personnel saved his life by stopping the bleeding at the scene Tuesday. He says the bullet severed Lodatto's femoral artery.
Lodatto is part of a major crimes task force investigating Alanna Gallagher's death. Her body was found on a street about a mile away from her Saginaw home July 1.
After Lodatto was shot, an officer returned fire and shot the suspect. His name and condition haven't been released.
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SAGINAW, Texas (AP) — A police officer was shot Tuesday when gunfire erupted as law enforcement tried to serve arrest and search warrants on a suspect in the killing of a 6-year-old girl whose naked, bound body was found wrapped in a tarp on a residential North Texas street, authorities said.
The officer was one of at least five who went to the home in Saginaw, just outside Fort Worth, to serve the warrants, said Damon Ing, a Saginaw police detective. FBI spokeswoman Katherine Chaumont said once the officers knocked, they were confronted by an armed suspect who fired on them. One of the officers returned fire, striking the suspect, she said.
Authorities have not released the identities or conditions for the suspect or the wounded Arlington police officer. Some officers are at the hospital, said Arlington police spokesman Christopher Cook, who said the department would provide an update on his condition.
A spokesman with MedStar Emergency Medical Services in Fort Worth, which transported the two to the hospital, said one was shot in the groin and the other was shot in the head. Matt Zavadsky also had no information on their conditions or identities.
The officers, part of a major crimes task force that includes the FBI and several police departments, were investigating the death of Alanna Gallagher, whose body was found on a Saginaw street about a mile away from her home July 1 by two teenage boys.
The house where the shooting occurred is two doors down from the home where Alanna lived with her family. Authorities have offered a $10,000 reward for information about her death.
Nearby streets were blocked Tuesday by yellow police tape and patrol vehicles. The tape was extended to light poles where purple ribbons had been tied shortly after the girl's body was found.
Purple ribbons and bows — placed in memory of the girl whose favorite color was purple — can be seen on mailboxes, trees and elsewhere in the area.
"It's been really heart-breaking for the neighborhood," resident Lisa Arnold said of the girl's death.
Other neighbors expressed concern for their children's safety in the weeks following the killing, particularly since an arrest had not been made.
Police also are trying to determine who set fire to a makeshift memorial for Alanna and torched a car owned by the girl's family that was parked in their driveway. The damage was discovered Friday.
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SAGINAW, Texas (AP) — Authorities say gunfire erupted at a North Texas home when officers investigating the killing of a 6-year-old girl were met by an armed man.
FBI spokeswoman Katherine Chaumont (shuh-MONT) says the officers executing a search warrant at the Saginaw home Tuesday morning "were engaged by the suspect at the door." Chaumont says the gunman shot an officer. Other officers returned fire, striking the suspect.
Authorities are investigating the death of Alanna Gallagher, whose bound and naked body was found July 1 wrapped in a tarp and dumped on a Saginaw residential street. Saginaw lies about 10 miles north of Fort Worth.
Authorities have not released the identities or conditions for the wounded officer and the suspect.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story is below.
A law enforcement officer was shot Tuesday as he served a search warrant in an investigation into the killing of a 6-year-old girl whose naked, bound body was found wrapped in a tarp on the corner of a North Texas residential street, police said.
Saginaw police spokesman Damon Ing said a person at the house where officers were serving the warrant was also shot. Ing had no information on the conditions or identities of either of the two who were shot.
A spokesman with MedStar Emergency Medical Services in Fort Worth, which transported the two to the hospital, said one was shot in the groin and the other was shot in the head. Matt Zavadsky also had no information on their conditions or identities.
The house in Saginaw, just north of Fort Worth, is two doors down from the home of Alanna Gallagher, whose lifeless body was discovered July 1 by a couple of teenage boys. Authorities have offered a $10,000 reward for information into Alanna's death.
No arrests have been announced.
The FBI is involved in the investigation and agents were at the scene of the shooting Tuesday morning, although the federal agency's involvement in the serving of the warrant was not clear. A spokeswoman for the FBI in Dallas did not respond to a phone message seeking comment Tuesday morning.
Police were also trying to determine who set fire to a makeshift memorial for Alanna and also torched a car owned by the girl's family that was parked in their driveway. The damage was discovered Friday.