Special Officer Miguel Cantu

Miguel Cantu

Special Officer Miguel Cantu was shot and killed in an unprovoked attack while working an assignment at the intersection of Durango Street and Matamoros Street at approximately 4:30 pm.

A merry-go-round had been set up in a vacant lot at the intersection and the police chief had assigned Officer Cantu to the lot to keep order.

While Officer Cantu stood in front of a crowd of approximately 100 people, a local criminal who had repeatedly made threats that he wanted to kill a police officer, walked up behind him and shot him in the back, severing his spinal cord. As he fell to the ground he was able to draw his revolver and fired one round, which did not strike the suspect. As Officer Cantu laid on the ground the man shot him two more times, then committed suicide.

Officer Cantu was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his wounds about seven hours later.

Officer Cantu had served as a special police officer and sanitation inspector for approximately three years. He was survived by his wife and several children.