BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – The San Antonio Police Department has two separate teams reviewing the details of Sunday night’s deadly shooting by officers.
A preliminary report says SAPD’s shooting team and internal affairs department will be conducting separate investigations.
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According to the report, two officers fired at a man around 7 p.m. Sunday after he drove toward them in what turned out to be a stolen car.
It says the officers were at the location, an apartment complex in the 17800 block of La Cantera Terrace, to answer a different call.
Someone at the apartment complex had complained about someone smoking marijuana in the pool area, according to SAPD.
The officers noticed the stolen car and parked behind it as they answered the call, the report says. Later, when they returned, things took a violent turn.
“The suspect ran out, got in the vehicle, jumped the curb to escape, and he drove right at the officers,” said SAPD Chief William McManus. “And they fired their weapons.”
McManus said the man in the car was hit one time. He was taken to a hospital where he later died, police said.
Both officers have been with the police department less than one year, McManus said.
Some signs of the shooting were still visible Monday morning, such as the broken windshield glass which was scattered across a grassy area nearby.
The images were also vivid in the minds of some people who live in the apartment complex.
One man, who didn’t want to reveal his identity, says he noticed the heavy police presence from his window after hearing the sound of gunfire.
“I thought it was fireworks from Six Flags at first,” he said. “But then I realized, I was, like, ‘No. Fireworks don’t go off ‘til later.’”
Others said they found themselves even closer to the deadly action.
“One of my co-workers, his girl, his fiance. She was walking the dog literally right here while it was basically going down and she almost got shot,” said Mario Fuentes, who also lives at the complex.
Fuentes said he arrived a few seconds later and saw a sight that still haunts him.
“The guy crashed into this pole, right here, and they just started firing at him,” Fuentes said, re-enacting the scene. “I think it’s absurd. I’m from New Jersey.”
Fuentes said the shooting has left him rattled.
The officers who fired the shots will remain on administrative leave, then administrative duty, at least until the investigation is complete.
As of late Monday afternoon, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office was still working to identify the man who was killed.