Video obtained by a San Antonio TV station appears to show a man with his hands up fatally shot by deputies, an encounter that authorities say happened after the armed man resisted arrest and nonlethal weapons failed to bring him under control.
Gilbert Flores, 41, died shortly after the shooting Friday, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Monday.
Deputies Greg Vasquez and Robert Sanchez were responding to a domestic disturbance and found a woman with a cut on her head and a baby who appeared injured, according to the statement.
The video, which was shot by a bystander and obtained exclusively by KSAT-TV, shows the deputies encounter with Flores as they attempted to arrest him.
The sheriff’s office says that Flores was armed, but didn’t say what type of weapon he had.
The two deputies attempted to arrest him, but after Flores resisted, the deputies used nonlethal weapons in an attempt to detain him.
When ‘those efforts failed,’ they shot him, according to the statement.
The video, taken by a bystander and obtained by KSAT-TV, appears to show Flores standing still with his arms raised just before two shots are heard.
Flores drops to the ground. The video doesn’t include audio of deputies’ commands or Flores’ response, and the scene is partially obscured by police vehicles and passing cars.
Moments later, deputies drag and flip Flores onto his stomach.
About a minute and a half later, an ambulance arrives.
The deputies, who had both been with the sheriff’s office for more than 10 years, have been placed on standard paid administrative leave.
District Attorney Nicholas ‘Nico’ LaHood told KSAT-TV that there are actually two video recordings of the deadly shooting and he has reviewed both of them.
‘Definitely, the video is troubling. There’s actually another video with a better view that is very close,’ LaHood told KSAT-TV.
‘This is a very unique situation where we actually have the shooting on video.
‘That gives us a whole different perspective that we’ve never had before.’
The sheriff’s department is investigating and has said the officers were not wearing body cameras.
‘Certainly what’s in the video is a cause for concern, but it’s important to let the investigation go through its course so that we can assure a thorough and complete review of all that occurred,’ Sheriff Susan Pamerleau said at a news conference Friday.
But her office later criticized the release of the video as ‘unethical’ and ‘sensational.’
‘These deputies have not been charged with a crime and a family lost their loved one,’ the office wrote in a Facebook post Monday.
The department didn’t respond to messages Monday seeking further comment on the video.
A woman at the residence where the shooting took place declined a reporter’s questions Monday, referring him to San Antonio attorney Thomas J. Henry, who did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
Flores has a criminal record that includes a 1999 criminal trespass charge and a 2003 aggravated robbery charge.
