Raul Altamirano

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

As Jose Olivarez was leaving Whataburger about 8:35 a.m. Sunday, something caught his eye.

In front of him, Corpus Christi police officers were crouched behind their cars, guns drawn and aimed at a man wearing a blue-gray shirt.

Olivarez was walking along North Shoreline Boulevard, heading to retrieve the car he’d left the night before, when he heard people yelling, “Go the other way, there’s an active shooter!”

He saw the man holding a black handgun, pointed at police, he said.

Then, the officers’ commands.

“Put the gun down!”

The man walked toward officers in the 300 block of North Shoreline Boulevard, Olivarez said. Two shots were fired and the 23-year-old man, identified by the Nueces County Medical Examiner's office as Jordan Gonzales, was on the ground.

“I didn’t expect to hear that, not in Corpus Christi. It didn’t feel real,” Olivarez said.

Olivarez thinks the Gonzales was shot in the chest or upper torso. An autopsy is pending, said forensic investigator Hugo Stimmler.

Investigators spent much of Sunday morning examining the scene of the shooting. Snapping photos of blood spots on the ground and shell casings, among other items blocks from where hours earlier revelers were celebrating on the streets during the Dia de los Muertos festival.

The 23-year-old man was transported to Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial, where he died.

Police initially were responding to calls about shots fired and witnesses told dispatchers the man was pointing the gun at residents and passing cars on Shoreline Boulevard.

Corpus Christi Officer-involved shootings dating back to 2009

"I commend our officers' actions. They saved lives today," said Corpus Christi Police Chief Mike Markle during a news conference at police headquarters.

Two officers will be placed on paid administrative leave while police investigate, which is standard procedure, said Senior Officer Travis Pace. The names of the officers have not been released, but Pace said that information would be forthcoming.

“We are interviewing folks right now and this investigation will continue for some time,” Markle said.