‘Suicidal' woman shot by SA police after allegedly reaching for shotgun

SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio police officer shot a woman described as suicidal early Friday morning after she allegedly reached for a shotgun.

The woman was rushed to a hospital and, at last check, was in critical but stable condition.

Chief William McManus was called to the scene in the 7800 block of Lanerose Place.

He told reporters that the woman had been involved in a fight with her boyfriend earlier in which she hit him in the face.

Later, she threatened to “do something to herself that he would remember for the rest of his life,” McManus said.

Taking that to mean she would commit suicide, the boyfriend called San Antonio police.

However, McManus said, when officers initially arrived, the woman already had left the area.

She returned, though, while police were still there. 

“They tried to talk her out of the car,” McManus said. “She was not cooperative, and inside the car she had a shotgun. As officers were trying to coax her out of the car, she reached for the shotgun.”

McManus says one officer fired a signal shot, hitting the woman in her upper body. She was in critical but stable condition when she was rushed to a hospital.

Police did not release her name right away but said she is about 30 years old.

The officer involved in the shooting is a 10-year veteran of the department. He has been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of an investigation.