Ennis police officers fatally shoot man during traffic stop

ENNIS, Texas - The Texas Rangers are investigating a deadly police shooting in Ennis where officers say the suspect tried to run them over with his car.

It happened around 9 p.m. Monday outside the Way Truth & Light Church on Kaufman Street in Ennis. Police said officers stopped a speeding in a 2003 Honda Civic.

The driver, identified as 36-year-old Moses Ruben, had an invalid driver’s license and several active arrest warrants. Police said when the officers tried to arrest Ruben because of the outstanding warrants refused to cooperate.

Ruben allegedly tried to get away by ramming his car into two Ennis squad cars. He drove toward the officers and two of them opened fire, police said.

A witness, who did not want her name released, described hearing gunshots after seeing a man in a car hit several police vehicles.

“The car backed up and hit an Ennis SUV. It tried to go forward again and clipped the front of another one and then went into the fence. And that’s when all the officers surrounded the car,” she said. “There’s only one way in and one way out of that church and they had that blocked off, so there was no way the man could have gotten out. They could have shot his tire. They could have Tased him. They didn’t have to use deadly force.”

Two Ennis police officers fired a total of three shots, striking Ruben at least once.

An Ennis police spokesman said even though Ruben was not armed, his car was being used as a deadly weapon.

Ruben was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was later taken to the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.

The two Ennis police officers involved in the shooting have been placed on routine administrative leave and the Texas Rangers have been asked to help investigate the shooting.

The officers’ identities have not been released.

Criminal records show Ruben served sometime in the Rockwall County Detention Center for tampering with a government instrument. He also had a misdemeanor conviction for speeding but did not have a history of violence