Val Verde County Deputies Investigate Fatal Shooting North of Del Rio

Val Verde County deputies found an unidentified man dead off a remote stretch of road roughly 45 miles north of Del Rio in the early hours of March 13, after a call came in at 12:09 a.m. reporting an officer-involved shooting just north of the Loma Alta store. Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez confirmed the fatal shooting to The 830 Times, saying the department dispatched deputies along with its criminal investigations division and an evidence technician.

When personnel arrived at the scene, they found one deceased male located off the road. Martinez said the shooting occurred about five miles north of Loma Alta, a small community along U.S. Highway 277 that sits roughly 40 miles north of Del Rio and serves travelers as a gas station and convenience store stop.

The circumstances surrounding the man's death remain under active investigation. Justice of the Peace Pct. 2 Randel Dissler ordered an autopsy, which will be critical to establishing cause of death. No official determination has been made about who fired the fatal shot. Several callers contacted The 830 Times alleging the deceased man shot himself, but that claim has not been confirmed by investigators and should be treated as unverified at this stage.

Martinez indicated that a vehicle pursuit preceded the shooting. Asked directly whether there had been a chase, he said, "By looking at the original call, a pursuit, so there was a chase." The sheriff did not elaborate on the length of the pursuit, the agencies involved, or how it ended.

The deceased had not been identified as of the initial report. According to a post on The 830 Times Facebook page, federal and local investigators were working together on the case, though Sheriff Martinez's on-the-record statements named only the department's own CID and evidence technician as responders to the scene. Which federal agencies, if any, have an official role in the investigation has not been confirmed by law enforcement.

The autopsy results, ballistic findings, and body-worn or dashboard camera footage, if it exists, will be central to answering whether a deputy or officer discharged a weapon, whether the shooting was self-inflicted, and the full sequence of events that led to a man dying on a dark stretch of highway north of Loma Alta before sunrise on a Friday morning.