CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — On Monday night two Corpus Christi Police officers arrived at the Four Winds Apartments for that domestic disturbance call.
CCPD Police Chief Mike Markle broke down what happened.
"The suspect produced an AR-type assault weapon and came back out of the apartment and confronted the officers. Our officers responded with firing their primary weapons and it did strike the suspect [as he] retreated back into his apartment," Markle said.
After evacuating neighboring units, officers went in and found the man dead. The Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office later identified him as 29-year-old Preston Graham.
The officers weren't hurt. This is the second deadly officer-involved shooting that began as a domestic disturbance call.
So how is CCPD keeping officers safe when responding to these types of calls? KRIS 6 News reporter Tony Jaramillo spoke with Senior Officer Travis Pace, who explained how.
"They have their training that they have in the academy, which is extensive training, which involves recognizes domestic violence, making a decision, deescalation techniques, arrest techniques, reading the situation," Pace said.
The training doesn't stop once officers leave the academy.
"They have continuing education that they have every 2 years. Or if we have updates that we have to put out, we'll put those out," Pace said.
Pace said counseling is also available for officers. The department partners with programs like The Purple Door as well to help curb domestic violence before it begins.
"We're serving a lot of survivors and victims coming in were able to get our advocates out to help people as much as people. Our shelter too. We're at capacity at our shelter at the moment. That's kind of typical for the summer months," Engagement Manager Shelbie Ledesma said.
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