SAPD releases body camera footage of fatal and non-fatal police shootings starting in September

SAN ANTONIO – WARNING: The video in the player above and the videos linked within this story contain graphic images, language, and the sound of gunshots.

The San Antonio Police Department released body camera footage of two police shootings on Sept. 19 on Friday.

The SAPD considered the people involved in the two police shootings as suspects. One of the suspects, a woman, was fatally wounded in the police shooting but will survive, police said.

The other suspect, a man, was killed in the other police shooting, authorities said.

Police shooting on Babcock Road

In the first incident, SAPD officers said they were dispatched to a call about a woman waving a gun in the air around 6 pm in the 2800 block of Babcock Road.

When police arrived, they found Janelle Harris, 38, holding a gun, the report said. According to body camera footage released by police Friday, officers at the scene identified themselves as police and asked Harris to put down his gun.

“Can you drop the gun?” one of the SAPD officers asked Harris in the body camera footage.

“F— no,” Harris replied, according to the video.

After officers asked her to lower the gun a few more times in the body camera footage and she refused, Harris threatened the officers.

“What if it gets in your head? What do you think (sic) about it?” Harris told officers on the body camera video.

After one of the officers asked her to drop the gun again and she refused, he told the officers, with their guns pointed at her, to “Do it.”

SAPD Officer Jaren Falcon, who has been employed with the department for four months, fired once at Harris, SAPD said.

Authorities later discovered that Harris’ weapon was an airsoft gun.

Harris was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, as well as separate counts of obstruction and retaliation.

Cantrell Drive police shooting

The second police shooting involved a man who was under active surveillance by the SAPD Robbery Task Force and Street Crimes Squad in the 1400 block of Cantrell Drive, police said.

Task force officers said Roberto Gonzalez, 34, was seen committing an aggravated robbery at a convenience store. Officers then conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle Gonzalez was in at the intersection of West Harding Boulevard and Clamp Avenue.

The driver, identified as Naomi Garcia, got out of the vehicle with her arms behind her head, according to police body camera footage.

After Garcia walked away from the vehicle, Gonzalez, who was in the passenger seat of the vehicle, moved into the driver’s seat and drove away from the scene, according to SAPD body camera video.

Garcia was later arrested and booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on aggravated robbery charges.

Before and after Gonzalez fled the scene, officers were heard on body camera video saying Gonzalez had a gun with him.

Gonzalez eventually fled the vehicle on foot. A SAPD helicopter later found Gonzalez along a fence in a wooded area, according to body camera and SAPD helicopter footage.

As the SAPD helicopter and its camera hovered over Gonzalez, the SAPD helicopter pilot told officers that Gonzalez had a gun in his hand, the video showed.

After officers on the ground found Gonzalez against the fence, body camera footage showed officers yelling at Gonzalez to drop the gun.

SAPD then said Gonzalez raised his gun at the officers. The officers responded by firing several shots at Gonzalez. In all, authorities said seven officers opened fire on Gonzalez.

These are the officers who shot Gonzalez:

• Officer Yousif Abdullah, three years of service

• Officer Vincent Aceituno, three years of service

• Officer Tyler Brown, five years of service

• Officer Ryan O’Hara, two years of service

• Officer Paul Pérez, three years of service

• Officer Kody Ramon, four years of service

• Officer Edgardo Valladares, three years of service

The eight officers who fired their weapons in the two police shootings were placed on administrative duties, police said.

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