The video provide a deeper look at the hourslong effort to take a gunman into custody after he allegedly shot and hit an officer responding to a suicide call.
SAN ANTONIO — New videos released by the San Antonio Police Department provide a deeper, on-the-ground look at what happened on the January night that seven officers were shot while responding to a suicide-in-progress call that turned into an hourslong effort to detain the gunman.
Law enforcement eventually shot and killed that man, later identified as 46-year-old Brandon Poulos. All seven officers were eventually released after being treated at a local hospital.
The shorter, three-minute-47-second video compiles multiple angles of the chaos on Jan. 22, ending with footage of SWAT officers atop armored trucks.
The longer video – five minutes and four seconds long – is narrated by SAPD Spokesperson Washington Moscoso, who speaks over body camera footage from multiple officers who responded to the apartment complex in the 18700 block of Stone Oak Parkway. SAPD also released audio of the 911 call Poulos made that night, in which he says: “I’m fixing to shoot myself. They better be careful, I have high-powered rifles and everything. If they come at me, I’m coming at them.”
Moscoso said the first shots rang out around 8:30 p.m. An officer can be heard yelling “Gun, gun gun!” before multiple loud bangs can be heard and another responding officer falls to the ground, yelling he’s been hit. Officers managed to get him out of the area and to a hospital.
Infrared video taken by SAPD’s police helicopter monitoring the scene shows an armed individual, identified as Poulos, who visibly points his gun at the chopper overhead before hiding under a truck.
“Just after 9 p.m., officers on the ground were developing a plan to take the suspect into custody when the suspect suddenly came out from under the truck, pointed the firearm multipole times at Eagle, then ran back into the apartment,” Moscoso continues. “Once inside the apartment, the suspect began shooting out of a vehicle towards officers, striking additional patrol officers.”
Additional infrared video shows how large the law enforcement presence grew at the complex as the night went on. It also shows when Poulos allegedly shot at a second group of officers, punctuated by several louds bangs. After what Moscoso categorized as “several hours of negotiations and various unsuccessful tactics” to get Poulos to surrender, police fired at him from atop armored vehicles in the complex parking lot.
Authorities believe Poulos – who was released from jail just days before, having been arrested for alleged domestic violence – was fatally shot in that exchange.
SAPD shared images of two officers that Moscoso said Poulos is believed to have used to fire at officers: a snub-nose handgun and a long gun. Officials also said he appeared to have a self-inflicted minor cut on his neck, although the Bexar County medical examiner concluded last month that he died from being shot multiple times.
Moscoso said the investigation is ongoing, including determining whether all SAPD procedures were followed. The incident was also forwarded to the district attorney’s office for their review, per department protocol.
This is a developing story.