Woman shot by off-duty officer says she was trying to get to the hospital

COPPERAS COVE, Texas (KWTX) – Lecresha Murray, who was shot by an off-duty Copperas Cove police officer Sunday, says an argument that started after she made a U-turn in front of the officer’s car because she started feeling sick led to the shooting.

“I did a U-turn in the middle of the street because I was going to go to the hospital,” she said.

Officers responded at around 12:45 p.m. Sunday to the 1500 block of Robertson Avenue after receiving multiple reports about a shooting.

When officers arrived, they discovered that an off-duty Copperas Cove officer was involved in the shooting.

The officer was not injured during the incident, but Murray was taken to Scott & White Medical Center in Temple with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.

Murray said after she and the officer took turns racing past each other, she finally stopped to confront the man.

During the argument that ensued, she says she was holding her side, which was in pain, and the man pulled out a gun.

“When I turned around to run back to my truck and get out of there, I just heard pop pop pop pop and all I could do was bend over and duck,” she said.

She says the man didn’t identify himself as an officer until after he started shooting.

Residents filled the street as they emerged from their homes after hearing the gunfire.

“We were not going to have that in this neighborhood because this neighborhood is quiet and cohesive and we were not going to have this mess,” one resident who didn’t want to be identified said.

She says her daughter called 911.

One resident told her children to hide in the closet, but many others stood in their front yards yelling to the man with the gun to put it away.

“If the guy with gun tried to run, he wasn’t going [anywhere] because the whole neighborhood would have tackled him because we were all out here,” the resident said.

Murray was treated and later released and returned to the shooting scene later Sunday afternoon.

The Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting.

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