Sergeant Ruben Almanza

Ruben Almanza

Sergeant Ruben Almanza succumbed to wounds he received when he was shot while searching for a robbery suspect at the 3600 block of Lamont Street.

The suspect exited the store brandishing a gun after robbing the store. He stole a vehicle in the parking lot and crashed that vehicle into a parked car and tree on Carroll Lane. He then fled on foot, shooting at officers as he hid in the neighborhood. Sergeant Almaza was standing behind a fence when the suspect shot Sergeant Almanza through the fence from an adjacent yard. The man jumped over the fence and shot him again while he was on the ground. A responding officer attempted to get the suspect to surrender, but when he fired again, he was shot and killed.

Sergeant Almanza was transported to Memorial Medical Center, where he died the next day.

Sergeant Almanza was a United States Army Vietnam War veteran and had served with the Corpus Christi Police Department for nine years, assigned to the Criminal Investigative Division. He was survived by his wife, three daughters, father, brother, and eight sisters.