Officer Henry Nava died of a gunshot wound two days later after attempting to arrest a man on a warrant.
Officer Nava and two other officers went to the suspect's mobile home to arrest him on a parole violation warrant . The officers were invited inside the residence by a female who resided there. The female gave the officers verbal consent to enter and search for the suspect after stating to them that the suspect was not at the location. As the Officers entered she alerted the suspect by stating loudly "the police are here and are going to search the house." As Officer Nava opened a bedroom door, the suspect emerged with a 9mm handgun and shot Officer Nava in the head, just above the left eye.
After shooting Officer Nava, the suspect fled to a nearby home where he took the female resident hostage for two hours, before releasing her and surrendering to police.
Officer Nava was taken to Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital where he died two days later from his wound.
The suspect was convicted of capital murder on November 13, 2007.
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Heard pulled up to a gas station in Sansom Park with two women, Sally Renae Smith (Renae) and Betty Diane Newell (Diane), in the truck. One of the women went inside the store and asked the clerk, Wali Sher, if the store accepted checks. Sher said that it did not, and the woman returned to the truck. Heard, Renae, and Diane sat in the truck for fifteen or twenty minutes, which made Sher curious so he wrote down the truck's license plate number. Heard then drove off without removing the gas nozzle, causing it to snap off the tank. Sher ran outside, stopped the truck, and asked Heard to come inside and write a report. Heard accompanied Sher inside the store and showed Sher his driver's license, but he refused to remove the license from his wallet. He started backing away toward the door, and when Sher said that he would call 911, Heard ran out to his truck and sped away. Sher called the police.
Sansom Park police officer Matthew Roberts saw the truck and activated his lights. Heard then led officers on a high-speed chase. He drove into a field and fled on foot, leaving Renae and Diane in the truck. Officers arrested Renae and Diane and searched the field for Heard, but the officers stopped the search after the women said Heard was armed. At the time, a blue warrant had been issued for Heard's arrest based on several parole violations. An inventory of the truck revealed numerous items used for identity theft and check fraud.
Based on what the officers found in the truck and learned from the women, they called Officer Henry Nava, an officer with the Fort Worth Police Department's Critical Response Team, to assist them. Officer Nava began working with the Sansom Park Police Department. Renae told Officer Nava that Heard was involved with identity theft for the Aryan Brotherhood and that Heard would kill a police officer. She also said that Heard might be at the trailer she shared with her husband Mike Newell, her mother, and Diane.
Officer Nava enlisted Fort Worth Critical Response Team officers Stephen Myers and Ernesto Tamayo to go to the trailer and look for Heard. The officers agreed that Officer Tamayo would approach the front door wearing a TXU hard hat and a work shirt over his police uniform while Officer Myers and Officer Nava would wait in their vehicles down the street until Officer Tamayo radioed for them to pull up to the trailer.
Officer Tamayo drove up to the trailer in an unmarked pickup truck. Wearing his disguise, he knocked on the door. Once Mike Newell opened the door, Officer Tamayo identified himself as a police officer, showed Mike his badge, and asked if Renae was home. Mike called for Renae by saying, 'Renae, the police are here. They want to see you.' Mike spoke loudly enough for Renae to hear him down the hall. Officer Tamayo then radioed for the other two officers to drive up to the trailer.
Officer Nava drove a red Grand Prix, and Officer Myers drove a marked police car. Officer Nava wore a grey hooded sweatshirt, jeans, and a duty belt holding his radio, taser, gun, magazine, and police badge. Officer Myers wore his tactical uniform, including a sweatshirt with the words 'Police' written down each sleeve; his tactical ballistic vest with the word 'Police' written across the right chest and the back and a police badge on the left chest; and his gun belt.
Renae came outside and said Heard was not there; she agreed to let the officers come in and look around inside for him. Renae opened the door and told Mike in a very loud voice that 'the police want to come in and search.' Officer Myers entered the trailer first and followed Renae to the left, towards the east bedroom. Officer Tamayo entered next and immediately took off the work shirt and TXU hard hat, leaving only his police sweatshirt and police tactical vest. Officer Nava entered the house last and pushed open the door to the middle bedroom, which was directly in front of him about an arm's length from the front door. Officer Tamayo was standing to the left of Officer Nava and could see inside the bedroom. He saw an arm holding a gun, aimed in the officers' direction, protruding from a closet door inside the bedroom. Officer Nava yelled, 'Gun,' and Officer Tamayo saw the muzzle flash. Heard fired first; the officers then drew their guns and returned fire.
Officer Myers fired a total of nine shots into the middle bedroom wall, Officer Tamayo fired sixteen shots into the bedroom, and Officer Nava fired nine shots. Heard fired ten shots from inside the bedroom. During the gunfire, Heard shot Officer Nava in the head. Officer Myers yelled, 'Officer down,' but the gunfire from the bedroom continued. Officer Tamayo and Officer Myers continued returning fire until they heard glass break and the gunfire stop.
Heard had broken out a window in the bedroom and fled the trailer. He ran to a house a few streets over and held a woman hostage at gunpoint for two to three hours while police surrounded the house. Heard told the woman that he had shot someone and that he did not know that the person was a police officer. Heard told the first officers on the scene at the woman's trailer, 'I ain't going back. Y'all are going to have to shoot me. If y'all come-if ya'll come in here, ya'll are going to be fucking up. I've got a girl in here.' Heard kept asking whether the 'officer' would be okay. Heard eventually released the hostage and surrendered to police. Officer Nava died the next afternoon.