The man killed by an Arlington police officer on Thursday was accused of raping 2 young girls under 10, report
Arlington, Texas – The man who was shot to death by Arlington police officer on Thursday was accused of raping two young girls.
According to police, the 46-year-old Juan Jimenez-Salas, was wanted in Arkansas on charges of rape and indecency with a child. The two victims were sisters under the age of 10.
Salas was shot by a police officer on Thursday around 5:30 p.m. after he pointed a gun to the police officer. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Arlington police on Thursday described Jimenez-Salas as a suspect wanted on serious offenses out of Arkansas, including rape and indecency with a child.
The charges originated in El Dorado, Arkansas, where investigators had been looking for Jimenez-Salas for several months, according to the El Dorado News-Times. He was accused of raping and inappropriately touching his girlfriend’s two young daughters in El Dorado and in Texas, the newspaper reported.
A spokesperson for the El Dorado Police Department in Arkansas didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday.
A Texas man reported to police in November 2020 that his young daughters told him Jimenez-Salas, who was dating their mother, had repeatedly molested them, according to the El Dorado News-Times. The man reportedly stated that when the children told their mother about the abuse, she left El Dorado and brought the children to live with him.
The man said she moved herself and her children to an undisclosed location to hide from Jimenez-Salas, the newspaper reported.
KDFW-TV reported the sisters are under the age of 10.
The U.S. Marshals Service was involved in the investigation along with several agencies including the El Dorado Police Department.
Two of the Arlington officers who initiated the traffic stop on Jimenez-Salas outside of the Nam Hung Mall, at the corner of East Pioneer Parkway and Browning Drive, were assigned to a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force. They radioed a patrol officer in a marked car to pull over the vehicle.
All three officers walked up to the vehicle, with one of the task force officers approaching the passenger side of the car and the other task force officer approaching the driver’s side.
Jimenez-Salas pointed his gun at the officer who came to the driver’s side door, police said.
Jimenez-Salas was an undocumented immigrant who was deported in 2000 after he was arrested on charges similar to the ones out of Arkansas, according to media reports. It’s unclear when he returned to the United States.