Texas officer arrested, charged in fatal shooting of Jonathan Price

Price's fatal shooting occurred Saturday when he intervened to break up a domestic violence situation.

Oct 6, 2020

Wolfe City Police officer Shaun David Lucas has been arrested and charged with the murder of 31-year-old Jonathan Price.

The officer has been released on a $1 million bond.

Wolfe City Police officer Shaun David Lucas (left) has been arrested and charged with the murder of 31-year-old Jonathan Price (right) at a Texas gas station.

The fatal shooting occurred on Saturday when Price intervened to break up a domestic violence situation at a gas station. Texas Rangers released a statement on Monday night explaining that Lucas responded to a call at the gas station, where he was told Price was involved in the disturbance.

“Officer Lucas attempted to detain Price, who resisted in a non-threatening posture and began walking away. Officer Lucas deployed his TASER, followed by discharging his service weapon striking Price. EMS was notified and Price was transported to Hunt Regional Hospital, where he later died,” the statement read.

“The preliminary investigation indicates that the actions of Officer Lucas,” it continued, “were not objectionably reasonable.”

Monday afternoon, Price’s father, Junior Price, told the local CBS affiliate that he wants “to see what the man gets … what he has coming to him for killing my son.”

Wolfe City is 70 miles northeast of Dallas. Texas civil rights attorney, S. Lee Merritt is representing the Price family, who have said there is video evidence that the shooting was a criminal act.

Merritt, posting on Facebook, provided more details about what may have happened during the shooting.

“When police arrived, I’m told, he raised his hands and attempted to explain what was going on,” Merritt wrote. “Police fired tasers at him and when his body convulsed from the electrical current, they ‘perceived a threat’ and shot him to death.”

Hundreds of people participated in a candlelight vigil in Wolfe City on Monday to honor Price, who was a former athlete, city employee and personal fitness trainer.

Ironically, Price had been a very vocal supporter of law enforcement on his social media pages. A photo image of an emoji-laden Facebook post critiquing Black Lives Matter protests has been making the rounds on Twitter this week.

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