Fugitive Unit shoots suspect

Irving—The Irving Police Department hosted a press conference about the Friday, May 12,police-involved shooting of Carlos Munguía, 40. Munguía allegedly killed Juan Carlos Piedra Ceballos, 37, the night before.

Irving officers responded to shots being fired in the 3300 block of Willow Creekat about 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 11.Officers found Ceballos had been shot and was deceased in his car. Through witness testimony, officers identified the subject as Munguía. Allegedly Munguía exited his apartment and fired into the vehicle after approaching it, then fled on foot.

Officers spent the night searching for Munguía. The Fugitive Unit was called into action on the morning of May 12. Through investigative leads, officers found Munguíaat about 7:30 p.m.

“The three officers of our fugitive unit contacted [Munguía] in the grass area in about the 3300 block of State Highway 183, near the Trinity Broadcasting Network,” Irving public information officer Robert Reeves said. “They challenged [Munguía], telling him with verbal commands to get on the ground. He turned, pulled his handgun out that was loaded and pointed it at the officers.

“Those three officers did fire at the suspect. Those officers then provided medical aid to [Munguía] before Irving Fire Department could get on the scene, and they transported [Munguía] to the Parkland Hospital where he did succumb to his injuries.

“There were no Irving officers hurt in this incident.There is no continued threat to the public. This is an officer-involved shooting.It’s a process [and the] investigation takes a very long time to complete.”

Officers with the Fugitive Unit felt they had no option but to fire upon Munguía once the gun was pulled.

"These are Fugitive Unit officers.They're highly trained and specialized in apprehensions,” Reeves said. “They approached the suspect.The suspect presented a firearm, that firearm was loaded, and he did point that at the officers before they actually engaged him.

“Definitely a very violent individual, that’s why our Fugitive Unit was trying to track him down. That was someone we didn’t want to just put a warrant out for and hope we found him at a later date. He had already shown his willingness to kill somebody.He was known to have the weapon on his person, and that’s why our officers were looking for him.”

Munguía has a previous record of assault with a knife in Irving as well as narcotics charges in Florida. At the moment, no motive has been identified in the initial murder of Ceballos but police say an investigation is underway.

“There is no confirmation on [whether Munguía and Ceballos knew each other],” Reeves said. “Even though we are confident in who our suspect was, we are still investigating that murder to see if we can figure out why it might have occurred for that victim’s family is definitely going to want to know that.”