A shooting in Midland, Texas, killed 62-year-old municipal employee Ed Scott and wounded 10 other people as police closed in on a fugitive sought for allegedly firing at an officer two days earlier. Authorities later found the wanted man dead inside an abandoned veterinary clinic.
Police identified the suspect as Victor Mata Villarreal, 45, of Odessa. A law-enforcement source told CNN that he had a self-inflicted gunshot wound. That account had not been presented as a medical examiner’s final ruling in the supplied report.
The episode followed a search lasting more than 30 hours. Officials said Villarreal had exchanged gunfire with an officer during an attempted traffic stop on Wednesday night, fled again after a high-speed pursuit and abandoned his vehicle before escaping on foot. Midland police, Texas Rangers and US Marshals then joined the manhunt under an attempted capital-murder warrant.
On Friday morning, law-enforcement sources believed a phone associated with Villarreal began transmitting near the Victorian Inn after having been switched off. Officers heard shots around 8 a.m. As state and local personnel arrived, police said Villarreal fired toward officers, passing vehicles and people nearby, then entered the unused clinic.
Businesses locked down, and a truck driver blocked a Loop 250 exit ramp to keep traffic away. Witnesses described a SWAT vehicle breaking through a fence and about 20 tactical officers entering the property. Authorities said the suspect was found dead at approximately 12:30 p.m.
Midland Memorial Hospital received nine shooting patients. Five had been discharged by Friday afternoon. By Saturday, four remained: two in critical condition and two in fair condition. The report gave an overall injured count of 10, suggesting at least one person was treated or accounted for outside that nine-patient hospital figure, but it did not provide details.
Scott worked in Midland’s solid-waste department and was active in local and regional softball organizations. The city remembered him as a devoted husband, father and community figure. Mayor Lori Blong later invited residents to a prayer gathering for the victims and their families.
The FBI assisted Midland police, while state officials praised the multi-agency response. Investigators still had to reconstruct the shootings and determine the full sequence across Wednesday and Friday. The suspect’s death ends the immediate search but does not replace forensic review of his actions, the police response or the injuries. The supported record distinguishes police allegations from confirmed casualty and hospital information, and it avoids treating an unnamed source’s description of the death as a completed official finding. The information also leaves unresolved how the tenth wounded person was treated and whether any injured officers were included in the published total.
