Video shows Texas suspect had hands raised when shot

01 September 2015 - 11:22 By ASHLEY SOUTHALL and MANNY FERNANDEZ

The fatal shooting of a Texas man by sheriff’s deputies in San Antonio last week was captured on video that appears to show he had his hands up when the officers fired. The Bexar County Sheriff’s Department identified the man on Monday as Gilbert Flores, 41. Officials said he was fatally shot on Friday by deputies responding to a domestic disturbance call around 11:30 a.m. at a home in northwest San Antonio near the Camp Bullis Military Training Reserve.The video, which was shot from a distance by a passing motorist, was published online in its entirety on Monday by KSAT, a television station. The station had broadcast a portion of the video showing the moments before the shooting on Friday.Hands up?“It’s very shocking and looks very bad,” said Nelson Wolff, the county judge and its highest elected official. “I’ve been in this position for 14 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it.”In the longer video, it is unclear whether Flores raised one or both of his hands before he was shot. A view of his left arm is blocked by a pole.As the video starts, Flores is seen running shirtless in the front yard of a single-story home. What is being said is not audible.Moments after Flores appears to put his hands up, two shots can be heard and he doubles over and falls to the ground.The sheriff’s office said he was flown to a local hospital, where he later died.The deputies were identified as Greg Vasquez and Robert Sanchez, each of whom had been with the department for more than 10 years. They were not injured in the shooting and, as a standard procedure, have been placed on administrative leave while the county sheriff and district attorney’s offices conduct investigations and decide whether to bring charges.KSAT said the video was recorded on a cellphone by a college student who saw the shooting unfold and contacted the station. It was not clear on Monday why the station had not released the full version sooner.“Now that there is an ongoing investigation by both agencies, and following additional discussions within our newsroom, KSAT 12 News has decided to make the entire video available online,” newsroom managers said in the online post releasing the video."A cause for concern"Officials have said the video is one of two recordings of the shooting that investigators are reviewing.“Certainly, what’s in the video is a cause for concern,” Sheriff Susan Pamerleau said at a news conference on Friday. “But it’s important to let the investigation go through its course so that we can ensure a thorough and complete review of all that occurred of the evidence and the actions of the officers.”The sheriff said Flores had harmed an 18-month-old child and a woman, who was found inside the home with a cut on her head. The sheriff said the deputies had attempted to arrest the man, but he had resisted.“They also used, tried to use, nonlethal weapons to try and detain him,” she said. “And after a lengthy confrontation, both deputies fired shots, causing the man’s death.”The nonlethal methods included the use of a Taser and shield, she said.“Thorough and complete” Pamerleau said the video was one of many pieces of evidence that her department was using to piece together what happened and promised a “thorough and complete” investigation and an “objective” assessment.“What’s important is to make sure that we don’t rush to judgment on any part of this,” she said.Special Agent Michelle Lee, a spokeswoman for the FBI in San Antonio, said the agency had started monitoring the sheriff’s investigation into the shooting.“Experienced civil rights investigators from the FBI will thoroughly review the facts and circumstances surrounding the shooting,” she said in a statement. “Our focus is to determine whether a civil rights violation took place as a result of a deputy willfully engaging in the use of excessive or unjustified force.”Kenneth Williams, a professor at South Texas College of Law in Houston and an expert on police misconduct, said he saw no justification for the shooting.“It appears that the victim had his hands in the air at the time that he was shot,” Williams said. “He clearly was not running away at the moment he was shot. Furthermore, he did not appear to be reaching for a weapon nor making any movement toward the officer that would have justified the shooting.”"A very unique situation"Nicholas LaHood, the Bexar County district attorney, said investigators were also reviewing 911 calls and statements from people inside the house, according to KSAT 12 News. He declined to comment about the video, other than to say it was “disturbing.”“This is a very unique situation where we actually have the shooting on video,” he said, according to the station. “That gives us a whole different perspective that we’ve never had before.”The television station said the video was provided by Michael Thomas, a student at the University of the Incarnate Word, a private Catholic school in San Antonio and Alamo Heights. Thomas told the station he recorded the episode because of recent shootings involving the police.“I was watching, I was kind of wondering what was going on, but I couldn’t figure it out,” he said. “Just the things that’s been going on in the world, like different types of shootings, cops and different things like that. So I was like, well maybe I can catch something on my camera.”Wolff said he expects the video to be discussed Tuesday at a meeting of the Commissioners Court, the county’s governing body. He, as the chairman, and the panel’s four commissioners are expected to vote on a budget that includes funding for police body cameras.Rep. Joaquín Castro, D-San Antonio, said the video was evidence that body cameras should be worn by officers and deputies.“The encounter is extremely disturbing as it appears to show an unarmed man with his hands up being shot by a deputy,” Castro said in a statement. “I trust that District Attorney Nico LaHood will pursue an indictment if all the evidence merits it.”Wolff said he would also be looking at the county’s use-of-force policies to see if changes needed to be made.Starting Tuesday, a new state law will require law enforcement agencies to report police shootings to the state attorney general’s office within 30 days.-2015 New York Times News Service..

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