{"id":778125,"date":"2026-05-06T21:25:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:25:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/778125\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T21:25:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:25:23","slug":"recovering-fort-worth-cru-specialist-shielded-a-homeowner-after-suffering-an-eye-injury-from-gunfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/778125\/","title":{"rendered":"Recovering Fort Worth CRU Specialist shielded a homeowner after suffering an eye injury from gunfire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edward Zapata, injured in the line of duty, continues his recovery while reflecting on the harrowing incident caught on camera.<\/p>\n

FORT WORTH, Texas \u2014 Community Response Unit Specialist Edward Zapata is still in the middle of treatment for an eye injury he suffered while at work<\/a>, but says his recovery is moving in the right direction. He wears a medical eye patch over his left eye.<\/p>\n

“I had a follow-up yesterday to evaluate the eye. We’ve got to follow up tomorrow,\u201d Edward Zapata said. \u201cMinimal pain, the treatment, the medication, it\u2019s helping.”<\/p>\n


\n \"\" <\/p>\n


\n This story continues below. <\/p>\n

Zapata was injured on April 28 while at a home on Juliet Lane in Fort Worth to take a report about a car burglary. Body camera footage captures the chaotic moments<\/a> as the situation quickly escalates, showing Zapata falling to the ground after being hit by a second round of gunfire. The homeowner was standing next to him.<\/p>\n

Despite being hurt, Zapata continued to focus on the woman\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got up. She dropped her wallet, so I picked that up as well. And then, that\u2019s where I found her hiding, behind the trash can,\u201d Edward Zapata said.<\/p>\n

Video shows blood coming from Zapata\u2019s left eye as he helps guide the homeowner out of danger, shielding her as they move to safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole time she was shielded by me to get over that fence, and that\u2019s all I was focused on,\u201d Edward Zapata said.<\/p>\n

Additional body camera footage shows responding officers exchanging gunfire with the suspect, identified as 39-year-old Angel Cantu. Investigators say Cantu initially escaped but was later taken into custody and is now facing a charge of aggravated assault on a public servant. Officers spent hours searching for him on the ground and by air using their police helicopter.<\/p>\n

Zapata, who had only been on the job for two weeks at the time of the shooting, was greeted with cheers from coworkers as he was released from the hospital. He took a group photo with CRU team members, marking an emotional moment after the incident.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Community Response Unit specialists assist police officers by handling reports, directing traffic, and supporting various field operations. Just weeks prior, Zapata graduated from the academy.<\/p>\n

Zapata says he is eager to return to work once he fully recovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like putting on a uniform. I like serving,\u201d Edward Zapata said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Edward Zapata, injured in the line of duty, continues his recovery while reflecting on the harrowing incident caught…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":778126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,7371,7372,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-778125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fort-worth","10":"tag-fortworth","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-tx","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116529746968586470","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}