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Suspect Accused of Killing Police Officer Released from Hospital

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Officer Richard Houston and Jamie Jaramillo | Image from KWXT

Jamie Jaramillo, the man accused of shooting and killing Mesquite Police Officer Richard Houston last week, has been released from the hospital and taken to Dallas County jail.

According to court records, Jaramillo was arraigned on one count of capital murder Thursday, with bail set at $2 million.

In Texas, capital murder is punishable by either life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. Jaramillo faces one of these sentences.

The suspect is accused of fatally shooting Officer Houston in an Albertson’s parking lot at Belt Line and Cartwright Roads on Friday, December 3, as Houston was responding to a disturbance call.

When the officer arrived on the scene, he discovered an altercation occurring between four people: Jaramillo, his wife, their daughter, and another woman.

The arrest warrant affidavit states that the daughter told Houston she and her mother, Juventina Vasquez Bences, had caught Jaramillo cheating with the third woman. When Houston approached Jaramillo, the suspect allegedly produced a gun and shot Houston twice before shooting himself in the head.

According to the affidavit, his wife, Vasquez Bences, took the fallen weapon and threatened to kill the third woman, Jaramillo’s alleged extramarital girlfriend. She was arrested for aggravated assault.

Houston died from his wounds in Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas shortly after his arrival. Jaramillo was admitted to the same hospital, in critical condition.

Officer Houston was honored with a memorial and a candlelit vigil in front of the Mesquite Police Department the following weekend and a funeral service at Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall the next Thursday.

Law enforcement officers from the Mesquite Police Department, where Houston served twenty-one years, spoke highly of him at the service and shared words of encouragement with each other.

“Richard walked with God each day,” said Assistant Police Chief Doug Yates. “God was with him last Friday, and today he’s with God.”

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