San Antonio, Texas — Three San Antonio police officers have been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a woman who was suffering from what the city’s police chief described as a “mental health crisis.”
Sgt. Alfred Flores and officers Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villalobos were suspended without pay and later arrested on death warrants in the killing of Melissa Perez, 46, when she refused police orders to get out of her apartment, Police Chief William McManus said Friday.
“The officers’ actions are inconsistent with SAPD policy and training,” McManus said during a news conference Friday night.
“They put themselves in a position where they used lethal force, which was not reasonable under all the circumstances as we now understand it,” McManus said.
McManus said one of the three suspected officers opened fire after Perez first threw a glass candlestick at the officers and then threw a hammer at them. The three officers then fired when Perez again approached them with the hammer, hitting her at least twice, according to McManus.
Court records do not list attorneys who can speak on behalf of the three officers.
McManus said Perez was suspected of cutting wires to a fire alarm, a felony, in the apartment complex and was talking to fire officials around 12:30 a.m. Friday when an officer approached her and tried to get her to walk toward a patrol car.
Perez was speaking to a fire marshal outside the compound when an unidentified officer arrived and was heard on body camera video calling, “Lady, come here,” with Perez refusing and walking away.
“It appears that Miss Perez was having a mental health crisis,” McManus said, without elaborating further, then entered her apartment.
The video then shows an officer in the courtyard of Perez’s apartment removing a window screen as Perez shouts “Stop it” and “You don’t have a warrant”.
“She’ll shoot you,” an unidentified officer yells, to which Perez replies, “Shoot me—you don’t have any warrant.”
Later, the sound of breaking glass was heard, followed by a hail of gunshots.
McManus did not take any questions, citing ongoing investigations into the shooting by the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division, Civil Rights Division, and Bexar County Civil Rights Division.
Other officers were also on the scene, McManus said, but none are expected to be charged although all will be investigated for their actions.
“This incident will continue to be thoroughly investigated, as are all officers involved in the shooting,” McManus said while offering his condolences to Perez’s family.
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