SAN ANTONIO – A Bexar County grand jury decided last week not to indict two deputies who fatally shot a man armed with a knife in his front yard last August. While the deputies won't be criminally charged in the death of Gilbert Flores, a federal lawsuit is still working its way through the courts.
Brad Garrett, a former FBI agent and ABC News crime consultant said there's still plenty of unanswered questions to be concerned about raised by a second video of the deadly shooting that was released last week.
"My initial concern is why they chose to shoot him at the time they did," Garrett said. "The real question is what was going on that the deputies believed he was a threat to them that resulted in them shooting him?"
Garrett has watched both videos of the deadly confrontation and he questions why deputies Greg Vasquez and Robert Sanchez waited until Gilbert Flores put his hands up in the air to shoot him.
"Clearly there were other times they could have shot him," Garrett said. "He was walking around in his own yard, around one of the vehicles in close proximity to the officers and that's why it's puzzling why they picked that particular moment. His ability to move around seemed like he was given too much latitude. Maybe they had concerns about approaching him too quickly for their own well-being; I don't know. But one of the things you always look at is can I contain this person while I deal with him."
In response to a civil lawsuit filed by Flores' wife, the attorney representing the deputies said Flores "never complied with any lawful orders" and "never attempted to surrender," and the deputies fired their weapons when "they were in imminent fear of death or serious bodily injury."
Garrett said it would have been reasonable for the deputies to feel that way because Flores still had a knife in his hand. "I would guess, only knowing what we know from these videos, that that was the justification to shoot him," Garrett said. "His ability to raise his arm and literally release that knife could have hit one of the officers."
While the shooting appears to be justified Garrett questions if it was necessary.
"Was there something that could have been done that it wouldn't have resulted in them ultimately having to shoot him?" Garrett said. "That's the question police are going to have to ask themselves for future events because clearly whether you're in the right or not you don't want to take a life unless it's absolutely necessary to do so."