Friend of man killed in officer-involved shooting shaken by story

Police say man held woman against will, assaulted her, pointed gun at officer

SAN ANTONIO – Thursday's officer-involved shooting was the second of the week and the third of the month. The man killed Thursday afternoon on the Northeast Side was accused of holding a woman at his apartment against her will, then pointing a gun at officers.

"It's a shock. Shock. I just can't believe it," said the woman, who didn't want her name mentioned. She said she was friends with the man an SAPD officer shot and killed inside an apartment on Rainbow Drive.

"I never seen him get in trouble," she said.

However, police say trouble started when they got a phone call about a woman being held at gunpoint against her will.

"I don't know the relationship. I do know. She reported she was being held against her will for at least several days," San Antonio police Chief William McManus said.

The man's friend told KSAT she'd seen the woman and said, "She's been here two, three days coming in and out, going to the store coming back."

Police said it was the woman's mother who called them and told them her daughter was in trouble. She told them where to find her daughter at the man's apartment in the Whispering Heights Apartment Complex.

"The officers got to the scene. They went up to the door. They heard the woman screaming. They kicked the door in. The suspect inside that was holding the woman, turned on the officers with a rifle in his hand and the officer who was making entry fired twice, striking the suspect twice," McManus said.

"I don't believe that, but I can't say it was true or not because I wasn't here. I was just coming home from work. And when I came here, that's when I see all of this," the man's friend said.

The man was dead by the time he got to the hospital. The 21-year-old woman inside the apartment was also taken for treatment.

"She had suffered head injuries after being assaulted by the suspect," McManus said.

McManus said the dwelling is a very small apartment that had drug paraphernalia in plain view.

Charles Clayton lives in the complex and was upset by the violence.

"You point a gun at a police, that's when you cross the line," Clayton said.

The officer who pulled the trigger Thursday is a seven-year veteran of the force. He has been put on administrative duty until the investigation is complete.


About the Author:

Courtney Friedman anchors KSAT’s weekend evening shows and reports during the week. Her ongoing Loving in Fear series confronts Bexar County’s domestic violence epidemic. She joined KSAT in 2014 and is proud to call the SA and South Texas community home. She came to San Antonio from KYTX CBS 19 in Tyler, where she also anchored & reported.