Three San Antonio police officers are charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a woman
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Three San Antonio police officers are charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a woman
Three San Antonio police officers have been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a woman who was experiencing what the city's police chief said was a “mental health crisis.” Sgt. Alfred Flores and Officers Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villalobos were suspended without pay and later arrested on murder warrants in the shooting death of Melissa Perez, 46, when she refused police orders to come out of her apartment, Police Chief William McManus said Friday.
By Ken Miller
Jun 24, 2023 02:02 PM
Three San Antonio police officers have been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a woman who was experiencing what the city’s police chief said was a “mental health crisis.”
Sgt. Alfred Flores and Officers Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villalobos were suspended without pay and later arrested on murder warrants in the shooting death of Melissa Perez, 46, when she refused police orders to come out of her apartment, Police Chief William McManus said Friday.
“The officers’ actions were not consistent with SAPD’s policy and training,” McManus said during a Friday night news conference.
“They placed themselves in a situation where they used deadly force which was not reasonable given all the circumstances as we now understand them,” McManus said.
One of the three charged officers opened fire, McManus said, after Perez first threw a glass candlestick at the officers then swung a hammer at them. All three officers then fired when Perez approached them again with the hammer, hitting her at least twice, according to McManus.
Court records do not list attorneys who could speak on behalf of the three officers.
Perez was suspected of cutting the wires to a fire alarm, a felony, at the apartment complex and was talking to fire officials about 12:30 a.m. Friday when an officer approached and tried to get her to walk toward a patrol car, McManus said.
Perez was speaking to a fire department official outside the complex when an unidentified officer arrived and is heard on body camera video calling “hey lady, get over here,” with Perez refusing and walking away.
“It appeared that Miss Perez was having a mental health crisis,” McManus said without offering further explanation, and she then ran into her apartment.
The video then shows an officer on the patio of Perez’s apartment removing a window screen as Perez shouts “stop it” and “you ain’t got no warrant.”
An unidentified officer shouts “you’re going to get shot,” to which Perez replies “shoot me - you ain’t got no warrant.”
The sound of glass breaking is later heard followed by two volleys of gunshots.
McManus took no questions, citing ongoing investigations into the shooting by the police department’s Internal Affairs and Civil Rights divisions and the Bexar County district attorney’s Civil Rights Division.
Other officers were also at the scene, but none are expected to be charged although all will be investigated for their actions, McManus said.
“This incident will continue to be thoroughly investigated, as are all officer involved shootings,” McManus said while expressing condolences to Perez’s family.
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I saw a video about this on the evening news. These three cops dont seem to have a good reason for killing the woman. All she had was a hammer and she was inside her front door and they were outside.
There are some cops that just want to shoot someone and will if given half a chance.
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Sgt. Alfred Flores and Officers Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villalobos
yep. Classic white supremacists.
if only they could be good little progressives and have their girl friend/sister in law throw away an illegally gotten Gun near a school and blame it on “Mexicans, probably illegals.”
That will put a damper on comments here.
Why would it put a damper on comments? Perhaps they can explain that the US Border Patrol shot a Native American man in his front yard on the Tohono O'odham rez in AZ 30 (some say 9 times) times. He had called the BP earlier in the day to report illegal aliens on his property the PB showed up at night and he walked out of his house to meet them and they told him to stop and raise his hands he reached into his pocket and they shot him 30 times, he had no gun and in his hand was a fucking cell phone. It was reported that one Tribal LEO were there as well.
He called in for help and they responded with deadly force saying that they were responding to a report of shots fired. No one seemed to have heard those shots or who reported them.
There is a video of it that was released a few days ago.
I don't know what race/color the BP was all that I know is that there is another dead Indian that was unarmed.
Some writers here seem more interested in stories white white men as the villain. I don’t think that you are one of them.
It appears that the BP is stonewalling the investigation. National Park Police do the same in my area.
I don’t think that this story even made the national news. Mattia was likely killed for doing the right thing.
Sadly you're right on both accounts.
If someone you care about is having mental health issues, you need to do everything you can to not call the cops. They will fuck it up. They are trained to solve problems with a gun. They don’t know anything about mental health, and keeping people alive is not their priority.
God knows me and mine have had our share of unpleasant experiences with “bad” cops but I find your comment to be a ridiculous sweeping generalization.
We hear about bad experiences all the time. Bad news sells right? How many of the good ones get reported here or in the mass media? Not many that’s for sure. Positive LEO experiences do happen every day. And at a much higher rate than bad ones.
Somebody is having “mental health” issues and you try to handle it yourself.
Hopefully you don’t regret it.
I don't see it as a sweeping generalization at all. LEOs are not trained to handle people with ''mental health'' issues. They will respond with force in a given situation, simple as that.
Of course, there are a lot of good cops that do very good things but there are also bad cops and cops not trained in dealing with mental health issues. A few cities have taken to having a different group (non LEOs) respond to those types of calls and from what I've read about them the number of violent encounters has dropped substantially. The CAHOOTS program in Eugene Ore. is having positive results from this type of program.
I disagree. Saying “they will fuck it up” is a clear sweeping generalization.
Most line cops get a basic education about a plethora of situations they may be required to handle but could never be considered expert in. That is simply asking too much to be an expert in all. A cop is no more a qualified mental health professional than a mental health professional is a qualified cop.
But I reject the assertion that a cop will automatically “fuck up” a mental health issue they are required to deal with.
That is just not true simply because some do.
Of course it’s a generalization. What it is not, is “ridiculous.” The choice to call 9-1-1 involves the caller making a generalization. I.e.: “This is the best choice to solve the problem because the people I am calling are the best at handling this situation.” But the caller doesn’t know which specific people are coming, or anything about their training and experience. They’re forced to generalize.
So if the house is on fire, you ask for the Fire Department, because they are trained to put out fires. If Dad looks like he’s having a heart attack you ask for an ambulance because the people in the ambulance are trained at helping people in medical distress, and will take Dad to a hospital where he can be treated. When they do this, they will stabilize him as best as possible and transport him safely to the hospital.
If someone has stolen your car, or is prowling about your property, you call the cops because that’s what they’re trained to handle. They’ll make a report about your car and hand it off to a detective. Or they’ll employ search tactics to catch the prowler and use force to apprehend him.
All generalizations and reasonable. This stuff the cops are doing is what they were trained to do in their measly 6 months at the academy (if they even went to one).
But for someone in a mental health crisis? Cops, by and large don’t know shit, and lack the patience to resolve the problem in a way that is gentle, yet time consuming. They have been trained to shoot, taze, tackle, hogtie, and in general fight anyone who doesn’t “comply” with their orders.
You can say these events are the exception to the rule, but they happen enough to warrant extreme caution and reticence in calling 9-1-1 for a loved one in crisis. You can say it’s rare, but how often does the Fire Department come to a smoldering house and burn it down? How often does an ambulance come to a person with anxiety and give them a heart attack? I would say virtually never.
But how often do cops come to someone who is upset and end up injuring or killing them? Quite a bit, actually. Enough that it’s worth making a generalization about how prudent it is to call on them in a mental health emergency.
Oh. You didn’t do the reading.
Speaking of bullshit . . . You don’t have any idea what I know. But I guess when you don’t have an actual argument, this is where some people go.
The dead citizen in this story was not attacking cops. Again, do the reading.
Arrest for what? Having a mental health crisis is not a crime.
Are they though? Or is it the other way around?
People with Untreated Mental Illness 16 Times More Likely to Be Killed By Law Enforcement
‘He needed help not death.’ Dad with mental illness shot in back by cops, CA suit says
Half of People Killed by Police Have a Disability: Report
Here’s the most amazing thing about the links above: They are just some of the many links I found by Googling “police killed on mental health calls.” That’s right - I did a Google search to investigate your claim.
None of the links were about the ill person killing police. Story after story was about police killing someone who was mentally I’ll and not an imminent threat to the lives of police or anyone else.
What I do know is, assuming a cop will “fuck it up” is a massive assumption and not helpful in the least. You don’t know what every cop knows and yet you assume you do. I guess this is just where some people go when their argument is flawed.
Sorry but you are out of line with an obvious sweeping generalization.
I think you might be surprised how little that does happen. Statistically speaking that is. But I’m sure this is one of those “once is too much” issues that sells with some.
How do you know what you know? Is it data? Evidence? Or just your feeling?
It's not an assumption. It's a reasonable concern based on actual facts and data, only a small portion of which I have linked above.
Not helpful to whom? To you? I guess you'll have to seek help elsewhere then. You could try 9-1-1 if you're feeling brave (and bulletproof).
You know what's really not helpful? Getting shot, when what you really need is compassion and a hospital. Guess who supplies that "help?" The cops.
I don't think you're a good judge about what it is in or out of line. Am I breaking a rule by commenting on this story? Am I not allowed to say something bad about cops?
Too bad.
How many times do you think cops should be allowed to murder someone you care about before it becomes too much?
We call it common sense where I come from.
Sure it is. You are assuming ALL cops will fuck it up. As I said, a massive assumption.
Absolutes in matters like this are rarely helpful. I’ll take my chances. I like those odds better than nothing if the shit is hitting the fan.
True, neither is getting threatened, mugged, stabbed, punched, kicked or shot because of someone else’s mental health issue. When what i really need is peace in my own space.
Opinions do vary and all are entitled to their own. Mine remains the same.
That question doesn’t even rate a response.
We can disagree about ''all'' or ''fuck it up'' but the fact remains that they are not trained and the results many times are dead people that should not be killed. If more cities followed the Eugene Ore. program things would improve with regard to dealing with people with mental health issues.
Agreed, if CAHOOTS helps reduce the possibility of police violence it’s a good thing.