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Deadly shooting by ATF agents takes neighbors by surprise

Medical examiner still working to identify man killed in shooting

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – A deadly shooting by federal agents early Tuesday morning took neighbors at a Northeast Side apartment complex by surprise.

Carlos Robles said he just happened to be awake playing video games when the real-life drama unfolded before 6 a.m., practically beneath the balcony of his second-floor apartment.

“I mean, I heard screaming, so I don’t know what it was,” Robles said.

Within seconds of the screams, Robles said he heard a series of unusual noises, starting with an electronic beep, then “a loud boom, and they did it twice.”

When he looked down from his balcony, Robles said he was surprised to see a small army of San Antonio police officers and agents wearing jackets emblazoned with the letters “ATF” on the back.

Carlos Robles was surprised to see police and ATF agents just below his second-floor balcony. (KSAT 12 News)

Robles said he had no idea why they were descending on the building next door.

For hours, Robles and others at the Merida apartments, near Loop 410 and Starcrest, would remain in the dark.

Police roped off a large area surrounding one building of the complex, while agents, apparently with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, scoured the area inside the barrier.

Hours later, the federal agency issued a statement offering a basic narrative of what had happened.

The statement said that the ATF agents were attempting to serve an arrest warrant on a suspect inside an apartment.

However, it said the suspect pointed a gun at the agents.

At least one agent pulled a weapon and fired, killing the wanted person.

A spokesman for the agency declined to release any other details, including basic information about the person who was killed or the charges that led to the warrant.

According to the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office, the person who was killed was a 22-year-old man. As of early Tuesday afternoon, staff at that office was still working to make a positive identification of the man, so his name was not released.

The ATF statement said that San Antonio police would be taking over the investigation of the shooting.

An SAPD spokesman confirmed that but said any other information, including the nature of the arrest warrant, was part of a larger federal investigation.


About the Authors
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Katrina Webber joined KSAT 12 in December 2009. She reports for Good Morning San Antonio. Katrina was born and raised in Queens, NY, but after living in Gulf Coast states for the past decade, she feels right at home in Texas. It's not unusual to find her singing karaoke or leading a song with her church choir when she's not on-air.

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