Officer Down Memorial Page - http://www.odmp.org

Deputy Sheriff Luis L. Garza | Atascosa County Sheriff's Department, Texas
Atascosa County Sheriff's Department, Texas

Deputy Sheriff

Luis L. Garza

Atascosa County Sheriff's Department, Texas

End of Watch: Thursday, July 19, 1973

Biographical Info

Age: 32
Tour of Duty: 5 months
Badge Number: Not available

Incident Details

Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: July 19, 1973
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Not available

Deputy Luis Garza and his wife, Elida, were shot and killed after being abducted by a suspect. Deputy Garza's wife was riding with him when he pulled over a vehicle for a traffic violation. The driver was actually en route to rob a bank in a nearby town. He abducted Deputy Garza at gunpoint and forced him to drive his patrol car, as his wife followed in the suspect's car, to an abandoned farmhouse. Once at the farmhouse the suspect handcuffed Deputy Garza and his wife together and then shot them both.

The suspect, a 28-year-old ex-convict was apprehended later that day by a state trooper on Interstate 35 in Medina County. Later that same day FBI agents arrested two men, 22 and 33, for conspiring to rob a bank with the suspect in Cotulla. On May 9, 1974, the suspect was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. On March 23, 1983, his sentence was commuted to 99 years.

Deputy Garza had served with the agency for only five months.