Authorities said the woman had called the county’s mental health team before she was killed.
SAN ANTONIO — An older woman who called the Bexar County mental health team for her grandson was killed before law enforcement arrived to her Shavano Park home, authorities said.
Sheriff Javier Salazar said the man, believed to be 27 years old, was arrested at the scene and is expected to face a murder charge.
“This lady, this victim, absolutely did the right thing by calling this team,” Salazar said. “We stood a really good chance of getting this situation resolved. But unfortunately this suspect took his actions long before the deputy was able to make it to the scene.”
Sheriff’s deputies and Shavano Park police responded to the home in the area of Northwest Military and Long Bow shortly after 5 p.m.. The responding deputy had found the unidentified woman “laying covered in blood” in her home, according to the sheriff.
The unidentified suspect answered the door for the deputy and was taken into custody without incident, the sheriff said.
Emergency personnel who arrived shortly after pronounced the woman dead at the scene. Salazar said it’s believed she was either stabbed or bludgeoned to death or both, adding there was “quite a bit of trauma.”
The sheriff said local law enforcement are familiar with the suspect, who has a criminal history and known mental health challenges.
“They told us he is prone to bouts of violence in some instances, he has fought them before,” Salazar said of Shavano Park police’s familiarity with the suspect. “But never something to this extent.”
The victim had called specifically for BCSO’s Specialized Multidisciplinary Alternate Response Team (SMART), which was established in 2020 to respond to and de-escalate mental health situations.
But the team usually isn’t sent to emergencies where violence is expected to be a factor.
“They’re just not equipped to walk into a violence situation,” Salazar said. “Apparently she was very familiar with the SMART team and when to call… but unfortunately, when we got here, the situation degraded substantially.”
The responding deputy was coming from Lackland Air Force Base more than 20 miles away, the sheriff said; it’s unknown how long it took the deputy to arrive at the residence.
Officials believe the suspect was living with his grandmother at the Shavano Park home.