SAN ANTONIO – A man is accused of shooting another man who was attacking his friend. Despite the self-defense argument, he’s still charged with murder, according to police.
Police arrested Robert Sanders Friday morning for the murder of 35-year-old Michael Williams in October.
An arrest affidavit said Sanders had his friend’s gun while the friend fought with Williams.
During the fight, Williams started stabbing Sanders’ friend, police said. Then Sanders pointed the gun at Williams, the affidavit said.
When Williams tried to run, Sanders shot at him multiple times, hitting him at least once.
Sanders continued to shoot at Williams after he collapsed before jumping into his wounded friend’s car and driving off.
Although the detective who wrote the arrest affidavit said the deadly force was used to protect Sanders or his friend, police are not calling the killing justified.
Citing a court case decided in 2016, the detective wrote that deadly force is no longer considered reasonable if the person using it does so while committing a crime above a small misdemeanor.
Sanders is a convicted felon, so by having the gun at all, he violated a law against a felon in possession of a firearm and was not justified in using it to shoot Williams, police said.
In the arrest warrant, which was signed on Aug. 2, investigators said Sanders had not yet gone to the homicide office to give his side of the story.