Bexar County DA announces indictment of 3 SAPD officers in shooting death of Melissa Perez

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — The shooting death of a woman having a mental crisis last summer has now led to the indictment of three former San Antonio police officers.

Following a 6-month investigation, a Bexar County grand jury handed down indictments against Sergeant Alfred Flores, Officer Eleazar Alejandro, and Officer Nathaniel Villalobos. Alejandro and Flores face a charge of murder while Villalobos is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon by a public servant.

Body cam footage was released after Melissa Perez was shot and killed after police arrived at the apartment complex she was living in early on June 23. Firefighters had called police after they say Perez was tampering with a fire alarm system she thought the FBI was using to watch her.

After Perez withdrew from the officers and went back into her apartment, video footage shows police trying to communicate with her through a window. Officers eventually went onto the balcony, one trying to remove a screen from a window. Investigators say Perez then threw a candle at the window, and eventually broke glass while swinging a hammer.

Moments after glass is heard breaking, multiple gunshots are fired into the apartment, at which point Perez was hit more than once. She died at the scene.

The officers now indicted were all fired by San Antonio Police Department Chief William McManus before Perez’s family filed a lawsuit.

KSAT-12 reports all three men will be arraigned in the 187th District Court in January.

This is a developing story and KTSA News will give more details when possible.