SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio police officer seen in cellphone camera footage pointing an unloaded handgun at her boyfriend — a fellow officer — and pulling the trigger several times, has been fired by the department, suspension records obtained by KSAT Investigates show.
Officer Martha Martinez received the indefinite suspension on May 31, according to records released Tuesday by SAPD.
The April 2021 gun incident came to light in November after Martinez’s then-boyfriend, fellow SAPD Officer Philip Ortiz Jr., was being investigated criminally for assaulting her.
Ortiz was arrested last November after investigators said he assaulted Martinez during a disturbance at a South Side residence .
During the department’s subsequent investigation of Ortiz, members of SAPD’s Special Victim’s Unit learned that Martinez had been recorded pointing a gun at Ortiz months earlier.
“The disturbance, which was recorded on video by a cellphone, shows Officer Martinez allegedly pointing a handgun at Officer Ortiz and then pulling the trigger several times,” Martinez’s suspension paperwork states.
Officer Martinez was accused of also racking the slide and pulling the trigger again while saying that the weapon is unloaded, suspension paperwork states.
Martinez was eventually fired for violating rules covering officer conduct and behavior.
KSAT Investigates can find no record that Martinez was ever criminally charged for the gun incident.
Martinez, through her attorney, appealed the termination June 1.
Ortiz was placed on temporary suspension without pay following his misdemeanor arrest.
His case is scheduled for a pretrial conference late this month, court records show.