SAN ANTONIO — The Bexar County District Attorney is defending his office after the San Antonio Police chief expressed frustrations over repeat violent offenders accused of shooting his officers.
There have been five shootings involving police in the past two weeks.
Former Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood said from the outside looking in, it appears something is off. He said if these agencies can’t work together, it is the citizens that suffer.
“What I'm seeing is a lack of communication between the two top law enforcement officials in our community,” LaHood said.
Chief William McManus said he is tired of seeing his officers ambushed by repeat offenders who should have been locked up. District Attorney Joe Gonzales said his office has done its best to try and prosecute each case it is presented.
LaHood said it is common for DAs to deal with a lack of cooperating witnesses or victims, but that should not completely halt a case.
“You can't just say, I'm not going to prosecute a case when I'm missing a witness or there's that there’s a flaw in the investigation,” LaHood said. “Now, there needs to be thoroughness. Of course, there needs to be due process.”
In Tuesday’s shooting, McManus said Dominick Rubio was wanted on two felony warrants. When one of his officers spotted Rubio and approached him, McManus said he was shot in the arm and torso.
“This is a danger to public safety having folks like this on the street,” McManus said Tuesday night.
In a statement Wednesday, Gonzales criticized the way police keep track of wanted offenders. He wrote in part, “Rubio should have been in jail long before yesterday’s shooting – and it was the SAPD’s job to search for him, serve the warrant, and get him there.”
Gonzales has said in the past, he and the chief have good communication. However, LaHood suspects there are bigger issues behind the scenes that are left unresolved.
“It's affecting not only law enforcement officers because we need to make sure they're safe, but all of the citizens that live in this community,” LaHood said.
We have reached out to SAPD regarding the DA’s statement. We have not heard back.
The full statement by District Attorney Joe Gonzales is below:
“At the request of my office, a motion to revoke was filed and a warrant was issued for the arrest of Dominick Rubio on August 3, 2023. On August 31, 2023, SAPD was called to a possible crime scene. As a result of the SAPD investigation at the site, SAPD obtained a second warrant for Rubio. However, the original arrest warrant was still outstanding and had not been served.
Entirely by chance, Dominick Rubio was spotted on September 5, 2023, by an SAPD officer who had previous experience with him and who knew he was wanted. During the ensuing effort to arrest Rubio, an SAPD officer was shot.
The execution of warrants, the arrest of offenders, and responsibility to return defendants to jail pursuant to a court’s order – these are law enforcement functions. Previously, the SAPD had a dedicated Repeat Offender Program (ROP). The ROP Unit was a specialized unit made up of detectives trained to track down wanted people – particularly repeat offenders. Arresting repeat offenders was their focus.
The SAPD disbanded the ROP Unit as part of a reorganization by Chief McManus in 2022. The responsibilities of the ROP were assigned to the SAPD’s Covert Response Unit – which is already overburdened with narcotics investigations, gambling investigations, undercover operations, and bar inspections. The Covert Response Unit is also responsible for investigating retail theft, business theft, prostitution, digital/child exploitation crimes, sexually oriented business inspections, and enforcement of tobacco and e-cigarette sales. See https://www.sa.gov/Directory/Departments/SAPD/About/Divisions/Covert-Response-Unit
Over 30 days had passed since the original warrant seeking Dominick Rubio’s arrest and detention had been issued. Nearly a week had gone by since SAPD had issued a second warrant for Rubio. Rubio should have been in jail long before yesterday’s shooting – and it was the SAPD’s job to search for him, serve the warrant, and get him there.