Texas man sentenced to death for killing police officer, friend

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A North Texas man was sentenced to death late Thursday for the 2018 killings of a Dallas-area police officer and another man.

The Collin County jury deliberated for about eight hours before returning the death sentence for Brandon McCall, 28, for shooting his friend, Rene Gamez II, and Richardson police officer David Sherrard in what police described as an ambush. Defense attorneys acknowledged that McCall shot the men but said the killings were unintentional.

Jurors had deliberated for about two hours Feb. 19 before convicting McCall of capital murder. The jury had the option of sentencing McCall to life imprisonment without parole.

McCall was accused of shooting Gamez, 30, in an apartment complex in the suburb north of Dallas and then shooting Sherrard in the chest as he entered the apartment after responding to reports of gunfire. The 37-year-old officer was a married father of two daughters and later died at a hospital.

McCall barricaded himself in the apartment after the shooting and fired at random during an hours-long standoff before officers arrested him.

During the trial, jurors were shown police body camera video of the moment Sherrard was shot and a video in which McCall admitted to opening fire on officers.

The latter video shows an officer reading McCall his Miranda rights as he lies in a hospital bed after the shootings. The officer then asks McCall why he shot at police.

McCall replies: “Cause I wanted to.”