Audio By Carbonatix
At around 9:05 Wednesday night, Dallas police say, Luis Escalante, 23, and Carlos Cipriano, 37, approached a customer in front of Smoke For Less in the 2900 block of Esters Boulevard in northwest Irving, brandished a weapon — possibly a pellet gun — and made off with a vehicle equipped with LoJack tracking device.
Dallas police tracked them to a parking lot near the 7ABC Beer-To-Go at 3000 Lombardy Lane, near Harry Hines Boulevard. Escalante and Cipriano were sitting in the vehicle, and a third, unidentified man was standing outside, talking to them. Officer Timothy Payovich began issuing “loud verbal commands.”
The man outside of the vehicle hit the pavement, lying prone. Escalante, according to a police statement, threw the vehicle in reverse and “accelerated rapidly.” Payovich and Sergeant Scott Rudloff tried to move out of the way, police say, but Escalante “maneuvered his vehicle in their direction.”
Rudloff, Payovich and a third officer, Jason Crow, opened fire on the vehicle, which crashed into Payovich’s squad car. Dallas Fire and Rescue took Escalante and Cipriano to Parkland Hospital, where Escalante was pronounced dead. Cipriano is listed in stable condition with a gunshot wound to his lower back.
Cipriano has a previous charge for burglary of a vehicle. Escalante has previous arrests for possession of methamphetamine, according to a Dallas County criminal court background search.
