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A mountain lion looked around or an avenue of escape after it was cornered inside the courtyard of St. Clements Church Tuesday.

A female mountain lion roaming Downtown El Paso was shot and killed Tuesday morning, 30 seconds after being hit with a second tranquilizer dart that hadn't yet taken effect, officials said.

The shooting of the cat was called into question by a veterinarian who was taped by television news crews at the scene saying "Ugh, you idiot" and there's "no need for this" after the lion had been shot twice.





"The more an animal is stimulated, the longer it takes for the drug to work," Waldrup said. "It's unfortunate she jumped out of the parking garage, but she was just being a cougar. She had been shot with a dart and was trying to get away."


"I stepped out and the mountain lion ran right past me," St. Clement Parish School Headmaster Nick Cobos said. "That mountain lion was scared. It just ran past the campus and did not stop. Nobody had time to scatter or react, it was so fast."



"At first I thought the school was being robbed, then I thought it was a drill. Then the teacher told us to get in the building. We did and quickly went into another classroom. When I was going inside, I saw a large animal," Lexi said. "A while later, another teacher announced that the school was in lockdown. It was really scary."

The mountain lion leapt over the school's fence and ran into the H&H Car Wash, where employees and authorities rushed to pull down the business's chain walls and contain the cat.


Hearing the gunshots, Waldrup rushed over to the opposite side of the carwash. As he approached the officers, he was visibly upset. In video taken by KTSM, Waldrup could be heard saying "Ugh, you idiot," and there's "no need for this."

Afterward, Waldrup said he was disappointed that the second dose of tranquilizer didn't even have time to take effect before the lion was shot.

"The second dart didn't really have a chance," Waldrup said. "She died less than 30 seconds after the second dart hit."

In all, the chase lasted nearly two hours, and Mike Baranyay, spokesman for the El Paso Police Department, said that the shooting is being investigated by the Police Department's Shooting Review Team. Officials of TABC could not be reached for comment.



"People need to be patient with the animals that are coming instead of trying to kill them; they need to relocate them," Karam said. "In this case with the mountain lion, they probably had to kill it because they couldn't capture it or it posed a danger to humans."

John Hall may be reached at; 546-6371.