Dallas man sentenced to more than 19 years in federal prison for his role in 2015 armed assault on federal officers

DALLAS — A Dallas man was sentenced Monday to more than 19 years in federal prison for the November 2015 armed assault on two federal law enforcement officers in southwest Dallas.

This sentence was announced U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas. This case was investigated by the FBI, Dallas Police Department, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

In April 2017, Edgar Solorzano, 24, of Dallas, pleaded guilty to the following charges:  one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance; two counts of assault on a federal officer; and one count of using, carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.  He has been in custody since the time of his arrest in August 2016.  On Nov. 20, 2017, U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay sentenced him to 231 months in prison.

Co-defendant Victor Manuel Solorzano, 32, was convicted, following a four-day trial, of one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, two counts of assault of a federal officer, and two counts of using, carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.  Victor Solorzano was sentenced Nov. 2, 2017, to 567 months in federal prison.

According to documents filed in the case, on Nov. 19, 2015, Victor and Edgar Solorzano, cousins who lived across the street from each other, fired numerous gunshots at two federal officers with the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with high-powered, semi-automatic firearms, and riddled their pickup truck with bullets as the officers fled.

The HSI officers had installed a court-ordered tracking device on Victor Solorzano’s vehicle at his residence on Wilbur Street in Dallas, Texas. Victor was under federal investigation by HSI for trafficking methamphetamine at the time. Immediately after installing the tracking device on Victor’s vehicle, Victor, armed with a pistol, confronted the officer in the street and began firing at the officer. The officer entered the passenger’s side of a pickup as Victor and Edgar began firing numerous gunshots at the two federal officers, who did not return fire. Victor and Edgar continued firing at the federal officers as they sped away. The officer who installed the court-ordered tracking device sustained four non-fatal bullet wounds and the pickup driven by the other officer sustained numerous bullet strikes, all from the back.

After the shooting, Edgar hid the pistol in the attic of his residence and the pistol used by Victor in a neighbor’s backyard.  Police searched Edgar’s residence and found the pistol hidden in the attic. Police also found in Edgar’s bedroom more than eight grams of methamphetamine, drug-distribution paraphernalia, and a variety of firearms and ammunition. The pistol used by Victor was found in the neighbor’s backyard.

Deputy Criminal Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Tromblay and Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Kull and Rachael Jones, Northern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.