WESLACO, Texas — A man who walked into a Weslaco, Texas, Walmart, armed with a semi-automatic rifle Monday afternoon was shot and killed by local law enforcement after firing on them first, police said Tuesday.
Weslaco Police Chief Joel Rivera identified the man as 27-year-old Marco Antonio Sigala Jr., KRGV reported.
Witness John Allen of Mercedes told KVEO he saw a “young man, approximately 25, mid- to late-20s, carrying an AK-47 into the store” and confronted him a short time later.
“He was very upset that I stopped him, and he was wanting to know who I was, those kinds of things. I said I was just a soldier, and ‘I’m a concerned citizen, and you’re not shooting anybody in this store today,’” Allen told the TV station.
Rivera also told KVEO that his department is verifying through video and eyewitness accounts if Sigala pointed his weapon at Allen before walking to the back of the store. He did confirm that officers made contact with Sigala only two minutes after being alerted to his presence.
Officers then ordered Sigala to throw his rifle on the ground, which he did, but he refused to show his hands and later “produced a handgun,” Rivera said.
Although officers attempted to “resolve the situation” without the use of deadly force, Rivera said Sigala fired at officers, who fired back, killing him.
According to officers, Sigala “seemed distraught concerning a medical condition” but did not elaborate, KVEO reported.