A police officer is stable after she was shot in the face by a robbery suspect who died later

Updated
Missouri City, Texas City Government via Facebook

A Texas police officer is recovering after a robbery suspect was alleged to have shot her in the face during a high-speed chase early Saturday. The suspect died after a shootout with police, NBC affiliate KPRC of Houston reported.

Crystal Sepulveda, 29, a Missouri City police officer who has been with the force for three years, is alleged to have been shot in the face and a foot after she and other officers saw a stolen car at a Houston gas station early Saturday, leading to a high-speed chase, according to KPRC and information publicized Saturday at a news conference hosted by Houston police.

The suspect — who police said was armed with “two automatic guns with extended magazines,” according to KPRC — crashed the car in front of a home about 4 miles away and ran toward the backyard before he is alleged to have fired at the officers and struck Sepulveda.

Police transported Sepulveda to Memorial Hermann Medical Center in Houston, where she was stable Saturday, police said.

The suspect ran away before officers found him in the backyard of a home a block away, where he is alleged to have "attempted to engage with officers," KPRC reported.

Two Houston police officers, a Fort Bend County sheriff’s deputy and a Texas Department of Public Safety officer reportedly fired at the suspect, and each agency will conduct its own independent investigation, KPRC reported.

The Fort Bend County district attorney's office will also conduct an independent investigation, police said at the news conference Saturday.

The suspect died later at a hospital, KPRC reported. The suspect, who was not publicly identified, was 25 to 30 years old, police said at the news conference.

A fundraiser for Sepulveda established by the Missouri City Police Officers Association-Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #594 had raised $17,500 early Sunday evening.

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