SAN ANTONIO – A Bexar County Sheriff’s deputy who was among the first to respond to a murder in Shavano Park last month has been placed on administrative leave, according to a spokesperson with the sheriff’s office.
However, the emailed statement from the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said the action taken with the deputy is not in response to any wrongdoing.
Instead, it is standard procedure in accordance with department policy for deputies who respond to “critical incidents,” the email stated.
Rose Garcia, 79, was found dead inside her home on Long Bow Road on May 27. Her 27-year-old grandson, Joseph Finnegan, has been arrested and charged with her murder.
A report from the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office shows Garcia died of blunt force and penetrating trauma.
“I was heartbroken for this woman and her family. But my second thoughts were exactly right away: how could this have happened in our neighborhood,” one woman who lives nearby told KSAT 12 News Monday morning.
The neighbor said she is one of several people in the community still disturbed by what happened.
They specifically wonder if more could have been done to prevent the situation from turning deadly.
Records show Finnegan had a history of arrests, some of them for violent incidents, and had mental health problems.
Shavano Park City Manager Bill Hill told KSAT 12 News the day after the murder that police had responded to at least 10 calls involving Finnegan since 2016.
Yet, he said in many cases, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office failed to prosecute him.
“That makes me wonder what’s going on: did he have a good attorney, or is this law, you know, to protect the mentally ill?” asked another neighbor, who also spoke to KSAT 12 News anonymously.
A written statement from the district attorney’s office last week said that only four cases involving Finnegan had been turned over to prosecutors.
“Of the four, two were handled under the previous administration, so we cannot comment on those specifically. In the remaining two cases, the victim chose not to proceed with testifying, which significantly limited our ability to move forward with prosecution,” the statement read.
The neighbors said Finnegan’s criminal background should also have been a red flag in the response to the 911 call.
Hill said that call came from Garcia herself.
In the call, he said Garcia told 911 dispatchers that she wanted the sheriff’s S.M.A.R.T, a special mental health team, to respond to her home.
Garcia told them her grandson was having a mental health crisis at the time.
Hill said she specifically requested that Shavano Park police, who were just a few miles away, not respond to the scene.
When the mental health team arrived from across town, though, it was too late. Garcia was dead.
“In hindsight, (police not responding) was probably the wrong thing to do, based upon the situation that turned violent,” Hill said. “This is a complicated case, and it’s being investigated by a number of departments.”
The two neighbors told KSAT none of it makes sense to them.
“If someone calls 911, why was their assumption that if she was calm, that it was not an emergency?” one woman asked.
The other woman echoed her sentiment, asking, “Where is common sense these days?”
Both women were adamant in not blaming Shavano Park police for the decision. However, they said something went wrong along the way.
“We cannot have this happen again, not in this neighborhood, not in any of our cities,” said one of the neighbors, fighting back tears.
In an email Monday, a BCSO spokesperson said 911 dispatchers are trained to triage calls and determine the type of response needed based on what the caller reports.
The spokesperson also said the department encourages those who may not be able to call 911 to text instead, if possible.
Additionally, BCSO said that when using the texting method, it is important that people in need of help first send the address, including the apartment name and apartment number, and the nature of the call. Other details should be sent after that.
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