SAN ANTONIO — For the second time in a matter of hours, investigators with the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) arrived at the scene of a shooting that resulted in a suspect dead and an officer hospitalized Wednesday night.
Police around 10 p.m. responded to the parking lot of a Home Depot in the area of Loop 410 and State Highway 151, where officers were preparing to apprehend two people they had been following through the day for suspected vehicle burglary. According to a police report, officers "positioned their patrol vehicle near the stolen vehicle to prevent it from fleeing, striking the stolen vehicle."
The driver, 21-year-old Victor Fernandez, responded by getting out and trying to run. According to SAPD's report, a detective wearing plain clothes and a uniformed officer both shot at Fernandez after they observed him pulling out a gun.
The SAPD detective, identified as Detective J. Helle, a 10-year SAPD veteran, was shot in the torso and taken to a local hospital. He's expected to be OK. During the course of the investigation, it was discovered the detective accidentally shot himself.
The second suspect was detained but later released, police said.
‘It’s been a rough day’
On a day that started with a judge revoking the bond of a felon who shot two SAPD officers last week and ended with two other officers in the hospital after separate shootings, McManus had multiple opportunities Wednesday to share his frustration about what he called a pattern of repeat offenders being re-released onto San Antonio’s streets.
“I’m not pointing fingers at the DA, but this is happening over and over and over again,” McManus said. "If you commit a violent crime, you should be in jail. If you are a habitual offender, you need to be in jail.”
The 40-year-old man shot dead by police Wednesday afternoon after he was allegedly firing at I-10 traffic on the east side was wanted on multiple warrants, including aggravated assault on a public servant.
Jesse Garcia, the man who shot two officers last week before his arrest ended a prolonged standoff, also had a lengthy criminal history.
The suspect shot dead Wednesday night apparently fit the trend. McManus said they had half a dozen prior charges, and went on to list the result of each: “Dismissed, dismissed, deferred adjudication, deferred adjudication... and then finally narcotics charges, he was arrested for vehicle burglary and criminal mischief, one of those cases was dismissed and he took deferred adjudication on the other two charges."
“This is what we’re seeing repeat in most of the cases that we’re looking at over a period of time. Again, frustrating that folks like this are out on the street,” the chief added, deploying a word he also used earlier in the afternoon.
Wednesday night’s shooting involving San Antonio police is the 14th such incident of the year so far, but the third since mid-July in the Alamo City.
“It’s been a rough day,” McManus said. “It’s been a rough couple of weeks.”
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