26 June 2023 , 07:33
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Three police officers have been charged with murder after a woman experiencing a mental health crisis was shot dead in San Antonio, Texas last week.
Melissa Perez, 46, died after officers allegedly opened fire on her in her apartment. She was pronounced dead at the scene after officers "attempted life-saving measures", according to an arrest warrant.
Three officers, Sergeant Alfred Flores and Officers Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villaloboswer were called to reports of a woman cutting the wires on a fire alarm system outside the Rosemont at Miller’s Pond apartments in San Antonio on Friday morning.
Firefighters were called before police responded.
Perez ran into her apartment and locked her door after speaking with police, and body camera footage shows the officers urging her to come out.
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Officer Nathaniel Villalobos (AP)
Sergeant Alfred Flores (AP)She told the officers twice “You ain’t got no warrant!”, and the San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Perez threw a glass candleholder as one officer attempted to open the window.
Perez then broke a window, Chief McManus said, as she attempted to swing a hammer at one officer but broke a window instead.
One officer then opened fire, but Perez was not hit. The body camera footage showed her still speaking to officers.
Then, McManus explained, Perez "advanced toward the window again while still holding the hammer, and all three officers opened fire".
Officer Eleazar Alejandro (AP)According to an arrest warrant, Perez "did not pose an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death when she was shot because the defendants had a wall, a window blocked by a television, and a locked door between them."
Around a dozen, shots were heard on the bodycam footage and Perez was struck at least twice.
At a press conference on Friday, McManus said: "After reviewing the evidence of this case and speaking with the district attorney's Civil Rights Division, warrants were issued for the three officers who shot and killed Melissa Perez. The three officers are being charged with murder.
“They've already been taken into custody. The three officers have been suspended without pay.”
A still from body camera video released by the San Antonio Police Department shows the men allegedly firing into the apartment of Melissa Perez (San Antonio Police Department)"Our condolences to Melissa Perez's entire family,” McManus said. “I want to assure her daughter that this incident will continue to be thoroughly investigated, as are all officer-involved shootings."
All three officers were released on $100,000 bond and the police force is expected to conduct an internal review.
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Executive Director Ananda Tomas of the police accountability non-profit ACT4SA said: "We acknowledge the speed in which these officers have been charged, but let’s be honest- this senseless loss of life should never have occurred
"True justice would have been responding to a community member having a mental health crisis in a compassionate manner. True justice would be Melissa still being here with us today."