SAN ANTONIO – An inmate is in critical condition at an area hospital and a second inmate faces a felony assault charge after an attack at the Bexar County Jail Monday.
Sources identified a suspect in the attack as Justin Rodriguez, 25.
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He was charged Monday afternoon with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, a second-degree felony, jail records show.
Bexar County Sheriff’s officials have released limited details about the incident, but did confirm the victim is currently intubated.
Intubation is a medical process in which a tube is inserted into an airway if that person is unable to breathe on his or her own.
Rodriguez has been in custody at the jail since May 12, after San Antonio police charged him with murder in connection to a shooting west of downtown, in the 1800 block of W. Commerce Street.
Sources said a detention officer was being questioned in connection to the incident Tuesday afternoon, and could face disciplinary action and that other inmates could potentially face criminal charges.
BCSO officials have not released the name of the injured inmate or the names of other inmates possibly involved in the alleged attack.
The incident comes less than 14 months after a Bexar County Jail inmate was charged in the death of a fellow inmate.
In May 2019, Shandrick Buckley was charged with capital murder after investigators said he stomped to death Alexander Wise.
Doctor finds inmate accused in jailhouse killing competent to stand trial for murders
Buckley, who, like Rodriguez, was being held on a murder charge at the time of the jailhouse attack, was found competent to stand trial last August.
Despite Buckley being an African American man and Wise having a history of being in a white supremacist gang, Sheriff Javier Salazar said jail staff did not consider them to be incapable of being housed in a cell together. He added at the time they were housed together in part because both had been involved in violent incidents at the jail.