Here’s everything we know about the incident and the ensuing investigation.
SAN ANTONIO — Three members of the San Antonio Police Department have been arrested after shooting and killing a 46-year-old woman believed to have been suffering a mental health crisis at the time.
The suspects – two of them officers with SAPD, and the third a sergeant – were arrested within 19 hours of the shooting, which unfolded around 2 a.m. on Friday, June 23. The aftermath has evolved into the highest-profile criminal investigation involving San Antonio police since the shooting of a local teen in October of 2022.
Here’s everything we know about the incident and the ensuing investigation.
What happened?
Police arrived at the home of the victim, Melissa Perez, around 2 a.m. on June 23 after she tinkered with her fire alarm, sparking a law enforcement response. Officials later said it’s believed she was suffering a mental health crisis.
Perez eventually locked herself in her unit, according to authorities, launching an apparent standoff. Police say additional officers arrived, establishing positions outside her front door and at her back porch.
Police say Perez eventually shattered a window from the inside with a hammer, prompting one officer to fire in her direction, missing her.
Perez eventually returned to the patio door, still holding the hammer. At that point, the three now-arrested officers respond by shooting at her, hitting her at least twice. Perez was pronounced dead at the scene, officials say, despite police breaking in and trying to provide medical aid.
Body camera video released by SAPD shows the police response and eventual gunfire. Before the shooting, Perez can be heard yelling: “You ain’t got a warrant!”
At around 9 p.m. the same day, SAPD Chief William McManus announced the arrests of the three officers, saying the use of deadly force “was not reasonable.” The officers were also suspended without pay.
What was the response from leaders?
McManus later said the actions of the suspended officers were “not consistent with SAPD evidence and training.”
Elected officials responded as well, most notably City Council member Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, who has pushed for police accountability. While acknowledging McManus’ swift decision in suspending the officers, he said on Twitter that “out community, and this family, deserve justice.”
The San Antonio activist group ACT4SA published a strong rebuke of the shooting online, saying in part that “this senseless loss of life should never have occurred.”
“We have mental health crisis response programs and I’m just wondering why they had not been called to respond to the scene, because it led to a deadly escalation and that’s the whole point of having these types of teams here to avoid this from happening,” ACT4SA Executive Director Ananda Tomas also told KENS 5.
Who are the officers charged?
The arrested officers are Eleazar Alejandro, 28; Nathaniel Villalobos, 27; and 45-year-old Alfred Flores, a sergeant.
Flores has been with SAPD for 14 years. Alejandro and Villalobos have been with SAPD for five and two years, respectively. All were briefly in jail on individual $100,000 bonds, but were released after posting bail by the next morning.
Former Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood is representing Villalobos, and told KENS 5 “murder charges should not be taken lightly, especially against three individuals, whether (they are) police officers or not.”
“We just have never seen the case move this quickly through the justice system,” he added.
Another San Antonio attorney, Ben Sifuentes, hired to represent Alejandro, said, “we believe that an incomplete investigation has been done at this stage and we are looking forward to getting all the evidence and defending our client vigorously.”
It’s unknown if Flores has hired legal representation.
All three suspects have a preliminary hearing set for July.
Who was Melissa Perez?
Perez was a 46-year-old San Antonio resident and mother. After the shooting, her daughter, Alexis Tovar, gave a brief statement in which she said she was “heartbroken by the actions” of the arrested SAPD officers.
The family has said it intends to file a civil lawsuit against all three officers. The attorney representing them told KENS 5 Perez suffered from mental illness, saying officers should’ve worked to de-escalate the situation on June 23 through mental health specialists.
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