Brownsville, Texas Police Department Shoots and Kills a Man When Executing a Warrant

On or about October 5, 2017, German Ornelas, was shot and killed by Brownsville Police Department officers.  Information in this post was obtained from a custodial death report filed by the Brownsville Police Department with the Attorney General of Texas.  Mr. Ornelas was 31 years of age at the time his death.

On or about Thursday, October 5, 2017, allegedly at approximately 10:55 a.m., Brownsville police officers arrived at a residence to serve a warrant for Mr. Ornelas.  They were allowed to enter an apartment in which Mr. Ornelas was present.  Mr. Ornelas allegedly confronted police officers with a large knife.  Police officers allegedly then told Mr. Ornelas to drop the knife.  Mr. Ornelas allegedly did not drop the knife and instead lunged at police officers.  Two police officers then shot Mr. Ornelas.  Mr. Ornelas was transported to a local hospital and died as a result of the gunshot wounds. We make no allegations in this post about whether police officers acted appropriately, but we instead are just providing information.

Written By: Dean Malone

Dean Malone

Dean Malone is the founder of Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C., a jail neglect civil rights law firm. Mr. Malone earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, and from Baylor University School of Law with a general civil litigation concentration. Mr. Malone served in several staff positions for the Baylor Law Review, including executive editor. Mr. Malone is an experienced trial lawyer, trying a number of cases to jury verdict and also handling arbitrations through final hearing. He heads the jail neglect section of his law firm, in which lawyers litigate cases involving serious injury and death resulting from jail neglect and abuse. Lawyers frequently refer cases to Mr. Malone due to his focus on this very complicated civil rights practice area.