SAN ANTONIO – Family members have identified a wheelchair-bound man who was shot and killed by San Antonio police Friday night as 45-year-old Carlos Hernandez.
San Antonio Police Officers Joseph Gorena and Juan Hernandez said they opened fire after Hernandez first shot 39-year-old Fidencio Soto in the back of the head.
That shooting was reported just after 8:30 p.m. in the 1000 block of Ruiz.
The officers told investigators they asked Hernandez to raise his hands, but instead he aimed at the officers, prompting them to fire.
Soto and Hernandez were transported to University Hospital, where Hernandez was pronounced dead. Soto is being treated with non-life threatening gunshot wounds to the head.
Hernandez's sister, Angela Hernandez, said she said she thought neighbors were retaliating for the shots her brother fired.
"I just saw his head slouch down, and then I saw two cops ... go toward him and grab the weapon out of his lap," she said.
She said she could only see him from the back and didn't know how badly he was wounded.
"I was hoping that he was still OK," she said. "We asked them for a long time, 'Is he breathing? Is he OK?'"
Family members said Thursday night was not Carlos Hernandez's first run-in with San Antonio police. They said an officer shot him when he was only 16, and he'd been in a wheelchair ever since.
Given his condition, his family is questioning how threatening he really was to the two officers who shot him.
"He can't get up. He couldn't rush at them. He couldn't do none of that," Angela Hernandez said.
But the officers said say he raised a gun at them.
"What happened between (the officers saying), 'Drop the weapon. Drop the weapon. Drop the weapon.' is unclear right now, but as we investigate, that will become clear," San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said.
Both Officers Gorena, a 4 1/2-year veteran of the force, and Juan Hernandez, a 3 1/2-year veteran, are now on administrative duty pending the results of the investigation.
KSAT 12 News Intern Jennifer Luna contributed to this report.