Texas cop shot in head, suspect killed during holdup

DALLAS — A gun battle between police and group of robbery suspects outside a Fort Worth bar early Friday left one suspect dead and an undercover officer fighting for his life, authorities said.

The undercover officer, Garrett Hull, was in critical condition at a hospital, Fort Worth police Chief Joel Fitzgerald said at a news conference. The suspect who was killed, Dacion Steptoe, was the one who shot Hull after Steptoe and two accomplices left a bar they had just robbed, the chief said.

The two other suspects were arrested, and none of the 10 people in the bar were hurt.

During an earlier news conference, Fitzgerald said Hull was part of a team of undercover and uniformed officers 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 suspects 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.