Texas officer shot during bar robbery; 2 men held

FORT WORTH — An undercover officer who was shot during a gun battle between police and a group of robbery suspects outside a Fort Worth barhas died, authorities said, and two men arrested will face capital murder charges.

Samuel Mayfield and Timothy Huff remained jailed without bond Saturday.

The undercover officer, Garrett Hull, died at a hospital late Friday night, Fort Worth police Chief Joel Fitzgerald said at a news conference. Hull, who is survived by a wife and two daughters, was well-liked in the department and was a “rock” of the police intelligence unit, Fitzgerald said. The 40-year-old had served 17 years with the department.

A suspect in the shooting also was killed. Dacion Steptoe shot Hull after Steptoe and two accomplices left the bar they had just robbed, the chief said.

Huff and Mayfield have been charged with 10 counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of criminal attempted capital murder. Police say one of the attempted capital murder counts is expected to be upgraded to capital murder.

“We’ve lost a true hero,” Fitzgerald said. “Someone who dedicated more than one tour of service to this great city was senselessly killed by three known criminals, two of which are in custody now.”

During an earlier news conference, Fitzgerald said Hull was part of a team of undercover and uniformed officers that was trailing the suspects and rushed into the bar when officers discovered it was being robbed. But he later clarified that the officers, wary of endangering bystanders, waited for the three robbers outside the bar before they confronted them.

Fellow officers rushed Hull to the hospital in a squad car instead of waiting for an ambulance.

Fitzgerald said the crew is suspected in 17 robberies in and around Fort Worth in recent months, and that they primarily targeted Latino bars. He said the crew shot someone in the head during a recent robbery and at least one other person had been shot as well.