A Dallas County jury has indicted a man on a capital murder charge after he was accused of killing an officer of the Mesquite Police Department.
According to The Dallas Morning News, 37-year-old Jamie Jaramillo is accused of fatally shooting Mesquite PD officer Richard Lee Houston II on December 3, 2021. Jaramillo allegedly shot Houston outside an Albertsons at Belt Line and Cartwright roads after the 37-year-old had a dispute with his wife.
As earlier reported by The Dallas Express, Houston was responding to a disturbance call at the grocery store when Jaramillo allegedly shot and killed him.
Jaramillo’s wife and daughter had gotten into a dispute with him at the store after they allegedly found him in his truck with his mistress, leading to the disturbance call. On arrival at the scene, Houston tried to approach Jaramillo to speak to him, but the 37-year-old allegedly opened fire on the officer before turning the gun on himself.
Jaramillo was taken to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas in critical condition. The suspect was hospitalized for about a week before he was taken to the Dallas County Jail to be detained.
Houston, a husband, and father to three children, was a 21-year veteran of the Mesquite Police Department. During his funeral, loved ones revealed he had always wanted to be a Mesquite police officer, just like his father.
Following the shooting incident, Jaramillo’s wife, 43-year-old Juventina Vasquez Bences, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to The Dallas Express.
Vasquez Bences is accused of pointing a gun at the woman believed to be Jaramillo’s mistress, an accusation which her daughter confirmed to investigators.
Jaramillo is now facing life in prison without the possibility of parole if found guilty.