SAN ANTONIO – Update:
One suspect has been arrested in connection with the anti-law enforcement graffiti that was found in a parking garage near the Bexar County Jail.
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Rebecca Rojas, 25, was taken into police custody Thursday evening, police records show.
She is charged with two counts of criminal mischief from $2,500 to less than $30,000, which are third-degree felonies.
This is a developing story and we’ll bring more updates as they become available.
Original:
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office is looking for the people responsible for spray painting anti-law enforcement messages in a parking garage adjacent to the jail during protests that took place Wednesday night.
Protestors gathered outside the jail to demonstrate after a Bexar County deputy fatally shot Damian Lamar Daniels, who appeared to suffer from mental problems.
Deputies believe during those demonstrations, vandals tagged the garage and a BCSO patrol car. Many of the messages included an anti-police acronym and others were threatening.
Two people were detained, but released by investigators without being charged.
“Additionally, as we have stated in the past, we support the community’s right to peacefully protest and have ensured protestors that the sheriff’s office will safeguard their ability to do so, however, when property damage is sustained and attributed from those participating in the protest, it is no longer a peaceful protest,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
On Tuesday, deputies were called to check on Daniels outside his home in the 11000 block of Liberty Field. Daniels, a combat veteran, was mentally unstable and suicidal after the loss of loved ones, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said. Salazar said he was reportedly also seeing things and hearing voices.
Daniels was allegedly aggressive with deputies and after a 2-minute struggle with him, Salazar said Daniels reached for his gun, leading a deputy to shoot him.
On Wednesday, Salazar released photos of the deputies’ encounter with Daniel. Salazar said the photos showed that the deputies showed restraint before resorting to deadly force.
“I want to release some of these still photos just to show the public what it was our deputies ... were confronted with,” Salazar said Wednesday. “And, quite frankly, I’m still really quite in awe of the restraint, the level of restraint, shown by our deputies.”
The investigation into the vandalism at the jail parking garage is ongoing at this time.