A crime scene investigator described bullet holes and evidence collected after the 2023 police shooting that left San Antonio woman Melissa Perez dead.
SAN ANTONIO — Jurors on Tuesday saw graphic photos and physical evidence from the scene of the 2023 police shooting that left 46-year-old Melissa Perez dead, as testimony continued in the trial of three former San Antonio police officers charged in her killing.
Crime scene investigator Yvonne Diaz with the San Antonio Police Department spent much of the afternoon on the witness stand, describing what she saw and the evidence she collected after the deadly encounter early in the morning of June 23, 2023. Prosecutors used her testimony to illustrate how bullets riddled Perez’s south-side apartment—striking the living room, kitchen, dining room and even a closet.
Several of the photos shown in court depicted Perez’s injuries to her chest and back. Her family was not present in the courtroom during that portion of testimony, and the defendants — Alfred Flores, Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villalobos — remained composed as the images were displayed.
Diaz also presented several items she collected that night, including the hammer Perez was holding when she was shot. Prosecutors said the exhibits show how many shots were fired and how they hit various parts of the apartment.
The defense questioned whether Diaz took enough photographs of the scene and gathered all possible evidence. One defense attorney also sought to remind jurors that Diaz investigates every shooting, regardless of whether it’s later deemed justified.
“Because it looks awful doesn’t mean it’s unlawful, right,” Goss asked during cross-examination.
Diaz agreed.
Defense attorneys also showed jurors a brief segment of body camera footage capturing Police Chief William McManus arriving at the scene the night Perez was killed. It remains unclear whether McManus will be called to testify during the trial.
The chief said shortly after the June 2023 shooting that the officers violated SAPD policy and were fired from the department.
Perez was killed on June 23, 2023, after police were called to her apartment complex for a mental health crisis. Investigators say Perez had earlier damaged a fire alarm box and refused to come outside when officers returned to her unit. Prosecutors allege the officers opened fire through a window, striking Perez multiple times.
The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office has charged all three former officers with murder. Each has pleaded not guilty.
Background on the case
It was early in the morning of June 23, 2023, when authorities say Perez tampered with her complex’s fire alarm system, triggering a police response.
Later that morning, Flores, Alejandro and Villalobos fatally shot at Perez when authorities said she came at them with a hammer. Before 24 hours had passed, they were suspended from the force and jailed after Chief William McManus said their actions didn’t conform with protocols.
At the center of the trial is whether or not the defendants’ use of deadly force was warranted, which jurors must determine. Flores and Alejandro are charged with murder, while Villalobos is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with Perez’s death. The three are being tried together.
It was during questioning of a San Antonio police officer who responded to the scene, Officer Jonathan Salinas, that the defense called for a mistrial on Friday.
Salinas on Thursday said he was upset with a theory the state was formulating over the early days of the trial—that the officers who entered Perez’s apartment were committing burglary of a habitat. The defense team said that could incriminate Salinas and the other officers expected to testify over the course of the weekslong trial, which the district attorney’s office says is likely the first time a Bexar County law enforcement officer is on trial for murder.
Salinas was then given a public defender who announced the officer wanted to plead the Fifth, giving him the flexibility not to testify further.
Ultimately, the state decided to grant immunity to the officers testifying—aside from Salinas and Officer Jesus Ramos, who was questioned for four days this week.