Authorities said Angel Cantu was captured after an hourslong search near Riverside Drive.
FORT WORTH, TX — A 39-year-old man was arrested Tuesday after police said he opened fire during a burglary investigation in north Fort Worth, injuring a civilian police employee and prompting school lockouts and an hourslong neighborhood search.
Angel Cantu faces a charge of aggravated assault against a public servant after the shooting in the 3500 block of North Juliet Lane. Police said the injured employee, a member of the Fort Worth Police Department’s Civilian Response Unit, was hit by shrapnel in the left eye and was hospitalized in stable condition. The case drew a large police response because officers said Cantu fired at the civilian employee and later at sworn officers who arrived to help.
The incident began about 11:45 a.m. April 28, when Civilian Response Unit members went to a home to take a burglary report. Police said Cantu was across the street and fired a rifle toward the responding civilian employee. The employee radioed for help, and officers who arrived were also met by gunfire. Officers returned fire, and police said Cantu ran into his residence, then fled through a backyard and over a fence. Fort Worth Police Chief Eddie Garcia said the wounded employee was speaking and stable after being taken to a hospital.
The shooting quickly turned a residential part of north Fort Worth into a search zone. Police set up roadblocks, brought in SWAT resources and asked people in the Summerfields subdivision to stay indoors. Authorities focused on the area near Basswood Boulevard and Riverside Drive as officers searched yards, streets and wooded spaces. Cantu was arrested about 5:40 p.m. as he came out of a wooded area near Riverside Drive and Brittany Place, police said. Investigators also recovered a weapon they believe was used in the shooting. Police had not said whether Cantu was hit by gunfire during the exchange.
Several nearby Keller ISD schools were placed under secure lockout while the search continued. North Riverside Elementary School, Fossil Hill Middle School, Vista Ridge Middle School and Basswood Elementary School were placed on secure lockout from about 12:10 p.m. until about 3:50 p.m. North Riverside Elementary was also briefly placed on lockdown for about 45 minutes before returning to secure lockout status. Students and staff remained inside during the security measures. Resident Lydia Godinez said the danger felt unusually close. “I always see it in the news, but I never thought it was gonna happen so close to home,” she said.
The Civilian Response Unit was created in 2021 to handle some police calls that do not require a sworn officer at the first response. The unit’s employees are civilians, not armed officers, and they take reports, collect evidence and help document cases. Police say the workers are not supposed to respond to calls where a suspect is on scene or likely to return. In this case, police said the unit member had arrived to help investigate a burglary report when shots were fired from across the street. The detail raised concern because the call appeared to move from a property crime report to a violent encounter within moments.
Cantu’s criminal history includes a previous robbery conviction from 2019, according to Tarrant County court records reported after the arrest. In that case, records said he injured a victim by striking the person with a weed eater and was sentenced to three years in prison. After Tuesday’s arrest, jail records listed the new case as aggravated assault against a public servant. Police had not released a full account of the original burglary report, including whether Cantu was connected to it, and investigators had not said what evidence led them to identify him as the shooter beyond the events at the scene.
City Council member Charles Lauersdorf said the injured Civilian Response Unit employee is a retired combat Marine and that city employees visited him at John Peter Smith Hospital after the shooting. Lauersdorf wrote that the employee was expected to recover. “I have no doubt he will not only make a strong recovery, but will have quite the story to tell,” he wrote. Neighbors described hours of uncertainty as police vehicles filled the streets and families waited for updates from schools. Stephanie Chavez, who lives near the scene, said her daughter’s school was locked down during the search and that parents were left waiting while officers worked the area.
The investigation remained active after Cantu’s arrest. Police said the recovered weapon would be reviewed as evidence, and more details could be released as detectives finish interviews, examine the shooting scene and prepare the case for prosecutors. The injured employee was recovering after the Tuesday shooting, and the next step is expected in Tarrant County criminal court.
Author note: Last updated April 30, 2026.