Tyler Texas - 2nd suspect charged

The second suspect in the Wednesday night shooting of a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper was arraigned in court Friday after being released from the hospital.

Francisco Saucedo, 38, of Tulsa, Okla., appeared in court Friday where he was formally charged with 14 counts of aggravated assault on a public servant.

Law enforcement officials allege Saucedo and Ramon Ramos, 37, also of Tulsa, Okla., shot Trooper Steven Stone during a traffic stop Wednesday night on Texas Highway 31 about eight miles east of Tyler.

The pair then left the wounded lawman in a ditch and fled the scene, heading into Tyler, where they were later spotted by an observant citizen listening to a police scanner.

The men, clad in body armor, then engaged in a gunbattle with Tyler police officers during a pursuit that ended when the pair's vehicle crashed into another vehicle on the Henderson Highway about one mile east of Loop 323.

The citizens in the vehicle the suspects hit were not injured, but the suspects were incapacitated long enough to be taken into custody without further resistance.

Tyler Police Chief Gary Swindle said during a Thursday press conference that the men fired between 75 and 100 rounds at officers, who returned 35 rounds during the chase.

Stone remains in East Texas Medical Center in fair condition.

WRONG PERSON IDENTIFIED

During the press conference on Thursday a photograph of Saucedo was displayed and given to the media, but officials later learned the man in the photo was not the correct Saucedo who was hospitalized and being held for the shooting.

"Tyler Police Department displayed a picture of Francisco Saucedo ... during a formal press conference on Thursday ... Saucedo is one of the suspects arrested in the aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a public servant," Tyler Police Department Public Information Officer Don Martin said. "It has come to our attention that there are two Francisco Saucedos with the same name and date of birth. The two subjects had information that was on each other's governmental records that we were unaware of at the time. We displayed a driver's license picture of the Saucedo that was not under arrest by our agency."

Martin said Tyler investigators have spoken to the man pictured in the Tyler Morning Telegraph and some electronic media and he informed them that he is always mistaken as the Saucedo who is in custody.

"The correct pictures have been obtained from the Smith County Jail when these subjects were booked in," he said.

CITIZEN'S CALL FRUITFUL

Swindle had asked during the press conference for the person responsible for making the call that led officers to the suspects at the La Michoacana Meat Market on South Beckham Avenue to call.

"That person is the reason we were able to apprehend these two individuals so quickly that night," he said.

Ed Thomas, the caller, said he was just doing his duty as a citizen.

Thomas' wife Nancy contacted the newspaper Friday and reported that her husband was the citizen the police had been looking for.

Thomas said he and his wife were traveling in separate vehicles on their way home from church when he began hearing about the shooting.

"A dark-colored pickup cut me off and slammed into the parking lot of the meat market. I had to slam on my brakes to keep from hitting him," he said. "About that time the description of the truck came over the scanner."

Thomas said he noticed the driver was acting suspiciously and he debated calling 911.

"I just sensed the guy was real nervous and decided to make the call," he said.

Thomas said he then turned around and went back down Front Street to see if there was another vehicle with that description coming into town, but noticed police were racing to the location he had called in.

"I got to the intersection of the Loop and 31 when I saw the suspects coming back around the loop and they (police and the suspects) were shooting at each other and then the truck went flying by me with officers right behind them," he said.

Thomas said he was glad he could help, but said Stone's well being was the most important thing on his mind.

"I'm just glad he is OK. I'm more interested in him than this," he said.

Mrs. Thomas said her husband had begged for a scanner so she bought him a hand-held scanner for Christmas.

"I am glad that some good has been accomplished from that scanner he is married to," she said jokingly. "He loves listening to it and likes to know what is going on."

Thomas laughed at his wife's remarks and added, "I'm 61 years old and I never would have thought I'd be able to pinpoint something like that. I am going to continue listening to my scanner."

Kenneth Dean covers police, fire, public safety organizations. He can be reached at 903.596.6353. e-mail: news@tylerpaper.com

©Tyler Morning Telegraph 2006