{"id":207584,"date":"2026-03-17T01:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/207584\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T01:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:02:14","slug":"fort-worth-tx-police-bodycam-shows-officer-fatally-shoot-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/207584\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth TX police bodycam shows officer fatally shoot man"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Fort Worth Police Department has released body-camera video from an officer who fatally shot a man<\/a> who ran toward the officer with a broken glass bottle in his hand last week.<\/p>\n

Multiple people reported that the man was hanging over the side of a highway bridge on U.S. 287 near East Maddox Avenue on March 12, according to 911 audio also released by the department at a news conference on Monday. An officer who was driving nearby shortly after 4 p.m. saw 38-year-old Jose Juan Lara-Gallegos<\/a> leaning over the bridge and cutting his neck with the glass, Chief Eddie Garcia said.<\/p>\n

The bodycam footage shared by the department shows the officer put on black gloves as he walks up a hill, climbs onto the bridge and starts to approach Lara along the shoulder of the highway.<\/p>\n

\u201cStop cutting your throat,\u201d the officer can be heard yelling in the video. Multiple cars can be seen passing as the officer moves toward Lara.<\/p>\n

Lara can then be seen climbing back onto the bridge, walking onto the highway and coming toward the officer with the glass bottle raised in his hand, Chief Garcia said. \u201cCome on, help me out. Go ahead and drop the bottle,\u201d the officer commands in the video.<\/p>\n

Seconds after that, \u201cStop right there. Stop, get back,\u201d the officer says. Three shots can be heard as the officer fires his gun. \u201cWe got shots fired. Suspect is down,\u201d the officer reports.<\/p>\n

In another clip, officers can be seen rendering medical aid to the bleeding man as they say, \u201cStay awake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lara died at the scene from gunshot wounds to the chest, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office.<\/a><\/p>\n

In audio of one 911 call, a man can be heard saying, \u201cThe guy was about to attack the police, and the police shot him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Callers also reported that they thought Lara was going to jump off the bridge.<\/p>\n

Chief calls shooting tragic outcome<\/p>\n

\u201cLoss of life is never the outcome we hope for in any encounter with law enforcement,\u201d Chief Garcia said at Monday\u2019s news conference<\/a>. \u201cMy heart goes out to this individual\u2019s family as they process this tragic loss, but I also want to acknowledge and recognize my officer involved who was forced to make a difficult decision and will now carry the weight of this traumatic incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sad reality is that this individual\u2019s actions ultimately dictated this tragic outcome. Incidents like this are tragic for all involved as they serve as a difficult reminder of the unpredictable and dangerous situations our officers sometimes face while working tirelessly to protect our city,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

When reporters asked about community concerns over not using a Taser, Garcia said, \u201cWhen he was hanging off the bridge, first and foremost it certainly wasn\u2019t a time to use a Taser because if it had been used, we know how that would have ended.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the officer had no backup if his Taser would have been ineffective and had no choice but to shoot. \u201cYou saw clearly that the individual did not have his arm raised for no reason, but he was trying to attack my officer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fort Fort Worth Police Chief Eddie Garcia gives an update on Monday, March 16, 2026, concerning an officer-involved shooting that took place on March 12. Amanda McCoy amccoy@star-telegram.com <\/p>\n

Lara was not homeless and has a family, and the department has no history of previous mental health calls in connection with him, Garcia said. \u201cHe was obviously going through some sort of mental health crisis,\u201d but what led to that situation remains under investigation, the chief said.<\/p>\n

Lara\u2019s family has not wished to see the video to this point, the chief said.<\/p>\n

This is the first fatal shooting involving Fort Worth police since Garcia became chief late last year. He said when police officials present a video publicly, they want to be confident in the information they are sharing and that the process will move quickly once they reach that point, similar to this case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not quite certain there\u2019s anything else my officer could have done in that situation,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI guarantee this officer wished that the individual would have come back over the bridge, dropped the bottle, and we would be able to apprehend them safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The officer, who has been with the department for six years and works with central patrol, is on routine leave during investigations by the Major Case Unit and Internal Affairs.<\/p>\n

Department leaders want to make sure that they have a strong system in place where the officer \u201cfeels mentally steady and is able to come back and protect his community, which is what he did that day,\u201c Garcia said.<\/p>\n

Garcia said the residents who dialed 911 during the incident showed a strong level of trust in the city and in public safety officials responding to what was happening.<\/p>\n

He said those witnesses saw something traumatic. \u201cMy heart goes out to them for seeing such a traumatic and tragic incident that they may never see for the rest of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you or a loved one is experiencing a crisis or suicidal thoughts, there is help available. Call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline<\/a> at 988.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published March 16, 2026 at 4:30 PM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Shambhavi Rimal<\/a><\/p>\n

Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n

Shambhavi covers crime, law enforcement and other breaking news in Fort Worth and Tarrant County. She graduated from the University of North Texas and previously covered a variety of general assignment topics in West Texas. She grew up in Nepal.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Fort Worth Police Department has released body-camera video from an officer who fatally shot a man who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[76333,116,118,117,81438,28656,56526,5225],"class_list":["post-207584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-bodycam-video","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-fort-worth-police-shooting","tag-highway-287","tag-man-killed","tag-officer-involved-shooting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}