Grand jury indicts retired SAPD detective who pointed gun in fight outside Home Depot

John Schiller charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon

San Antonio Police Department retired detective John Schiller is shown during an encounter on Sept. 27 at the Home Depot parking lot located off Loop 1604 and Culebra road on the far West Side. (KSAT)

SAN ANTONIO – A retired San Antonio police detective was indicted by a Bexar County grand jury on Monday after he allegedly pulled a gun on a man during a fight outside Home Depot.

John Schiller was formally charged with two counts of aggravated assault of a deadly weapon, court records show.

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On Sept. 27, 2020, Schiller confronted a man who he believed stole his ex-wife’s phone outside the store located off Loop 1604 and Culebra Road.

The man later told police and KSAT 12 he didn’t steal the phone but was in fact planning to return it after finding it in the street. He told the man he texted the woman to set up a return of the phone.

According to a cell phone video shot by the victim, Schiller pointed a handgun at the man and at one point pushed the man to the ground right in front of the store.

“I tell you what I’m going to do, you stole the phone,” said Schiller while being recorded, after the victim asked if Schiller was going to shoot him.

“Get on the ground. Get on the ground now! Get on the (expletive) ground. You think I’m playing?” said Schiller as cell phone video appears to show him push the man against a vehicle outside the store.

A second angle recorded by a person in a vehicle shows Schiller holding a handgun while he and the victim walk near the entrance of the store.

Schiller, first hired in 1987 by the San Antonio Police Department, retired in March 2019.

Police did not arrest Schiller until nearly one month after the incident occurred.

If convicted, the officer faces two to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.

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