Three San Antonio law enforcement officials have been charged with homicide on Friday after police shot and killed a 46-year-old girl, who swung a hammer of their course and seemed to be in misery, in her residence, officers mentioned.
The three officers, Sgt. Alfred Flores, Officer Eleazar Alejandro and Officer Nathaniel Villalobos, have been suspended with out pay and have been taken into custody on Friday. They have been with the San Antonio Police Department for 14, 5 and two years.
“The shooting officers’ actions were not consistent with S.A.P.D.’s policy and training,” William McManus, chief of the division, mentioned at a news convention Friday evening. “They placed themselves in a situation where they used deadly force, which was not reasonable given all the circumstances as we now understand them.”
The officers acquired a name simply after midnight on Friday morning of a disturbance at an condominium complicated within the Southwest Side of San Antonio, Mr. McManus mentioned. The girl, whom authorities recognized as Melissa Perez, was slicing hearth alarm wires on the complicated, which is a felony crime, police mentioned.
When the officers arrived on the scene, Ms. Perez was talking to fireside division officers within the parking zone.
Mr. McManus mentioned it appeared she was having a “mental health crisis.” When officers tried to get her to stroll towards their automobile, she bumped into her condominium and locked the door.
After climbing over her porch railing, an officer opened her window display and mentioned, “You’re going to get shot,” in line with physique digicam footage launched by the division. Ms. Perez mentioned, “Shoot me,” and mentioned they didn’t have a warrant.
Mr. McManus mentioned Ms. Perez picked up a candle and threw it at an officer. The sound of glass shattering could be heard within the physique digicam footage, however it’s unclear from the video what is going on.
The police then waited outdoors the condominium for backup, and a gaggle of officers went to the entrance of her condominium. Officers Flores, Alejandro and Villalobos have been stationed on the porch within the again.
Two officers jumped over the patio railing, Mr. McManus mentioned, and Ms. Perez picked up a hammer and started approaching them.
She then swung the hammer, Mr. McManus mentioned, towards an officer who was outdoors the condominium, and hit a window, breaking it. An officer shot at Ms. Perez, however it seems she was not hit, McManus mentioned. She went towards the window once more, nonetheless holding the hammer, and all three of the officers opened hearth. She was hit at the very least two occasions, and emergency medical companies pronounced her lifeless on the scene.
Danny Diaz, president of the San Antonio Police Officers’ Association, mentioned in an announcement that the group provided “our deepest condolences to Melissa Perez’s family.” But he declined to remark additional. “At this time, this is an active investigation, and can’t speak to the matter further until the investigation is complete and judicial process is underway,” he mentioned within the assertion.
San Antonio has a protracted historical past of police violence. In 2018, a police officer shot and killed Charles Roundtree Jr., an unarmed Black teen. A police officer shot unarmed Antronie Scott, 36, in 2016 as a result of he thought he was holding a gun; it was a cellphone. And an off-duty police officer killed Marquise Jones, 23, in 2014, taking pictures him within the again whereas he was operating from the scene of a minor site visitors accident.
Ananda Tomas, govt director of ACT 4 SA, a police accountability group, mentioned that although there was an abnormally swift response in charging the officers, it remained to be seen whether or not they could be indicted or punished.
Activists, she mentioned, will proceed to work to forestall related incidents from occurring once more and can provide help and advocacy to Ms. Perez’s household. She emphasised that true justice would imply that Ms. Perez was nonetheless alive.
“True justice would have been responding to a community member having a mental health crisis in a compassionate manner,” she mentioned in an announcement. It mentioned that the police division “acted with neglect, foolishness and violence that resulted in an unforgivable end to Melissa’s life.”
Lt. Michelle Ramos, of the San Antonio police, didn’t present remark when requested for an replace on the investigation, however as a substitute despatched the uncooked and narrated variations of the important incident report movies that had been launched.
Three separate investigations of Ms. Perez’s demise are being performed — two by the police division’s inside affairs and murder divisions, and an impartial investigation by the civil rights division of the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.
The district legal professional’s workplace couldn’t be instantly reached for remark.
Although Mr. McManus mentioned he didn’t imagine any further officers could be charged, he mentioned that each officer on the scene could be investigated by inside affairs.
Source: www.nytimes.com