Euless officers get national award for bravery in March gun battle

Officer Michael Sarro and Ed Pietrowski watched a fellow Euless officer gunned down on March 1 and ultimately killed the suspect after facing gunfire themselves.

“These officers were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, to lay down their lives for their brother and friend,” Euless Assistant Police Chief Gary Landers said in a news release.

For their action that day, the two — friends since they worked together for the New York City Police Department — have received the Officer of the Month Award for August from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund in Washington D.C.

Pietrowski and Sarro had responded to a call that day reporting shots fired at J.A. Carr Park. Officer David Hofer, who also had known Sarro and Pietrowski from his days as an officer at the NYPD, decided to back them up.

The three arrived at the park and searched it. Hofer, 29, saw movement and was walking toward a creek when Jorge Gonzalez, 22, stood up and fatally shot him. Then Gonzalez turned his weapon on Sarro and Pietrowski.

“I was trying to process everything,” Sarro said in a news release. “What just happened? Was that real? I don’t hear Dave (Hofer), that’s not good, so I start returning fire.”

Pietrowski heard Sarro say on the radio, “Officer down, shots fired.”

Sarro, who had been just a few feet away from Hofer, kept shooting as he sought cover. Pietrowski fired at Gonzalez, trying to draw his attention away from Sarro.

“The biggest relief was when I saw him (Pietrowski) running in to help me,” Sarro said. “If it wasn’t for him, I’d be dead too. I’m sure.”

Officials said that because of quick action by Pietrowski and Sarro no one else was injured.at Carr Park, nor were students from Oakwood Terrace Elementary School, Harmony Science Academy or other officers.

“Despite witnessing their colleague and friend get shot, Officers Sarro and Pietrowski were able to rely on their training and focus on their job to keep the community safe by taking down the gunman,” Memorial Fund President and CEO Craig W. Floyd said in a news release. “The bravery these men showed that day earns them our gratitude.”

Gonzalez had been released from the Euless Jail at 11:23 a.m. after being arrested the day before for public intoxication. His family has said he was high on “ice,” or methamphetamine.

After his release, he broke into a home on Bayless Drive — near the back entrance of Carr Park — and stole multiple weapons, police said. He had walked across the street, fired off a few shots in the park, and then took cover in a creek before killing Hofer.

Sarro and Pietrowski, along with the other Officer of the Month Award recipients for 2016, will be honored during National Police Week at a special awards ceremony in Washington D.C. in May 2017.

“It’s acts of courage like those demonstrated by Officers Sarro and Pietrowski that should be held up as an example for all to see when they discuss what it means to be a community servant and police officer,” Landers wrote.

Pietrowski remembered his slain friend and fellow officer in a news release. “I know I’d take a bullet for a guy I care about. As a great example of David Hofer, this loving guy would just show up and say, ‘I’d take a bullet for you’ jokingly.’ But with him it was never a joke.”

This story was originally published August 29, 2016 at 12:17 PM with the headline "Euless officers get national award for bravery in March gun battle."