SAN ANTONIO – A capital murder suspect is dead, a day after the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said he tried to kill himself in his jail cell.
Jesus Lopez’s death is the third inmate death in almost three weeks.
Lopez, 18, was arrested in April and charged with capital murder for his alleged role in the murder of two people on the city’s North Side.
Lopez was found Thursday morning inside his cell at the Bexar County Adult Detention Center. The sheriff’s office said there were no signs of foul play in this case.
The 18-year-old was taken to University Hospital in critical condition Thursday, but he died Friday night.
The medical examiner’s office said Lopez was brain dead.
Lopez’s death comes just days after state inspectors paid a surprise visit to the jail in response to two previous inmate suicides.
The first inmate killed himself on June 28. The second hanged himself in his maximum-security unit on July 9.
The sheriff’s office has claimed to be a national model in its efforts to screen incoming inmates for mental illness and suicidal tendencies, but has also said that there is always room for improvement.
The medical examiner still has to make an official ruling on Lopez’s cause of death.