Sgt. Alfred Flores, Officer Eleazar Alejandro and Officer Nathaniel Villalobos were arrested and charged with murder in the death of Melissa Perez
Three San Antonio police officers were arrested and charged with murder following a deadly shooting that killed a woman inside her apartment last Friday.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said in a press conference Friday that Sgt. Alfred Flores, Officer Eleazar Alejandro and Officer Nathaniel Villalobos have been taken into custody and were charged in connection with the death of Melissa Perez. The officers were also put on suspension without pay.
The Washington Post reports the three officers were released on bond Saturday. The family of Perez, 46, told the San Antonio Express-News it plans to file a lawsuit against the city this week.
“We have always been a pro-police family,” Perez’s daughter, Alexis Tovar, said in a statement through the family’s attorney, ABC News reported. “This breaks my heart. I always trusted the police to protect me and now I don’t know who to trust. We can’t express how hurt we are.”
McManus, the chief, said police believe Perez was having a mental health crisis. He did not take questions at a press conference on Friday.
“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 police chief said.
Dan Packard, the family’s attorney, told the Express-News that Perez had a history of mental illness and said the officers did not properly address the situation.
“Where was the, ‘We know that you need help. We’re here to help. We’re trying to protect you. We’re tying to get you the help that you need?’” Packard told the newspaper.
It was not immediately clear if any of the accused officers had retained an attorney or entered a plea.
San Antonio police say the officers – Flores, Alejandro, and Villalobos – had responded to a call at an apartment complex where Perez, 46, lived at about 12:27 am on Friday.
Police allege Perez had been cutting wires to the fire alarm system in her apartment and that the fire department had tried to speak with her before involving police.
When police arrived, McManus alleges that the “officers attempted to get her to walk toward their patrol car, but she ran back to her apartment and she locked the door.” Soon after, at her apartment, McManus said Perez picked up a hammer, which led to an officer drawing his weapon. (Footage from an officer’s body camera showing the incident has been released.)
McManus said the officers and Perez spoke through an open window for about 30 minutes. When an officer removed a screen on her porch window, McManus said Perez threw a candle at the officer.
An officer later tried to approach the front door, the chief said. McManus then says Perez smashed a window in the door with the hammer. One of the officers then “fired his weapon at Mrs. Perez,” McManus said. Police allege Perez didn’t appear to be struck the first time, and that all three officers charged in the killing had opened fire on her when she walked towards them again.
Perez was shot “at least two times,” McManus said.
McManus said there would be three investigations into the incident, including two by the department and one by the Bexar County District Attorney’s civil rights division.