CONVERSE – A woman who witnessed a trooper shooting and killing a man in Converse on Monday said she doesn’t believe the shooting was justified.
The woman, who asked not to be identified because she didn’t want to be contacted, took a video of the moments leading up to the trooper making a life-and-death decision.
You can watch the video at the player at the top of this article.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), the incident began in New Braunfels after a trooper tried to pull 37-year-old Luis Navarro over on a traffic stop.
Navarro drove away, and the agency said he led the trooper on a chase that topped speeds of 110 miles an hour.
“I was in the right lane of 1604, and all of a sudden this van was swerving around me,” said the woman. “He almost hit me, and I thought, ‘What? What is this guy doing?’”
DPS Sgt. Kenny Mata said Navarro crashed into a Chevrolet Tahoe on East Loop 1604 and FM 78. He said Navarro refused to obey the trooper’s commands after the crash.
“After [Navarro] crashed, he ran out of the van,” said the woman. “Then the cop Tased him, which didn’t faze that guy. Then the guy turned around and started walking back towards the cop with his hands up and out towards the cop and the cop had his gun out. And next thing you know, he shoots him right in the chest.”
‘Why did he shoot?’
“When you see that, what’s going through your head?” asked KSAT reporter Daniela Ibarra.
“The first thing that I thought was why did he shoot [Navarro]?” answered the woman. “You know, he, he wasn’t coming at the cop. He didn’t have a gun or a knife on him.”
KSAT asked DPS if a weapon was found on Navarro, but he said there was no further information to share on the investigation. DPS did not specify whether he was armed in the information they initially shared.
The woman said she didn’t see Navarro hold any weapon, just a T-shirt.
“Do you think that the shooting was justified?” asked Ibarra.
“I personally don’t,” answered the witness.
“Why?” asked Ibarra.
“I don’t think the cop was in danger of his life,” the witness responded. “I understand that the guy wasn’t obeying his commands, but I don’t believe that shooting him right in the chest helped the situation.”
KSAT reached out to DPS for an interview, but the agency declined.
We requested the trooper’s body-worn camera video and a copy of the department’s use-of-force policy.
*Editor’s note: Before the witness shared her video with us, she asked for payment. KSAT rarely pays for news footage and most viewers share video with us at no charge. In this case, KSAT agreed to pay a licensing fee for the video because it provides additional context to a person being killed by law enforcement and limited information has been shared by authorities.