A man who had been wanted in El Dorado on felony charges of rape and sexual indecency with a child was shot to death this week by police in Arlington, Texas, when he allegedly brandished a gun and pointed it an officer during a traffic stop.
Juan Jimenez-Salas, 46, was fatally wounded Thursday by a veteran officer with the Arlington Police Department’s Fugitive Unit, according to a news release from the APD.
Investigators with the El Dorado Police Department had been looking for Salas for several months on charges of five counts of rape and six counts of sexual indecency with a child.
Salas had been accused of raping and inappropriately touching his girlfriend’s two daughters in El Dorado and in Texas.
Judge Jack Barker of 35th Judicial District Court signed the arrest warrant on Dec. 3, 2020.
Capt. Scott Harwell, of the EPD’s Criminal Investigative Division, said Salas was an undocumented resident from Mexico who was arrested in 2000 in the U.S. on multiple charges that were similar to the offenses listed in the arrest warrant.
“He was arrested and deported back to Mexico. He was arrested again sometime later while trying to get back into the United States,” Harwell said.
On Nov. 28, 2020, a Texas man reported to El Dorado police that his young daughters told him that their mother’s boyfriend, Salas, had repeatedly molested them while they were living with their mother in El Dorado and during a trip to Texas.
The complainant said that when the children told their mother about the abuse, their mother left El Dorado and brought the children to live with him.
She then moved to an undisclosed location to flee from Salas and further protect the children, he said.
Harwell said El Dorado police launched an investigation that involved multiple agencies, including the Arkansas Department of Human Services, Arkansas State Police - Crimes Against Children Division and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Earlier this week, authorities learned that Salas was possibly in Arlington, Texas, according to the Arlington Police Department news release.
On Thursday, APD officers who were assigned to the North Texas Fugitive Task Force spotted Salas driving a vehicle on the east side of the city.
Task force officers and an APD patrol officer conducted a traffic stop at approximately 5:22 p.m., and they said the driver, identified as Salas, pointed a handgun at a task force officer who was standing on the passenger side of the vehicle.
One of the task force officers, a 19-year veteran and supervisor with the APD, then fired his duty weapon at Salas and struck him.
The news release did not specify which task officer fired the shot that killed Salas, who was pronounced dead on the scene.
“I am grateful that no officers or innocent community members were injured by the unfortunate decisions that this suspect made … by pointing a gun at one of our officers,” APD Chief Al Jones said.
Arlington police also said it was unclear why Salas was in the city.
The APD is conducting criminal and administrative investigations into shooting, as is typical with officer-involved incidents in which deadly force is used, according to the news release.