SAN ANTONIO – The family of Victor Sanchez, the 44-year-old shot and killed on Tuesday by San Antonio police officers, has more questions than answers following the shooting at their apartment complex.
SAPD reports officers were responding to Westway Apartments for reports of a burglary.
The mother of Sanchez’s son, Angelica Baron, was inside their home and said Sanchez interpreted the knocks and noise around the home as threats.
Baron said Sanchez fired one gunshot into the ground to scare away any possible intruder, and Sanchez told her and the kids to run outside.
Police said Sanchez was out on bond for allegedly assaulting Baron in a previous incident.
On Tuesday night, investigators said they tried to get Sanchez to drop the gun, but he pointed it at officers after threatening them with a rifle.
Six officers shot at Sanchez, striking him multiple times. Baron said he may have been suffering a mental health episode during the exchange with police and wished things had played out differently.
“What if your wife or your husband had a mental issue? Would you expect for the cops to come over here and then start firing and killing -- killing your loved one?” Baron asked.
When Baron returned home Wednesday morning, she said she was surprised to see her hallway filled with pools of blood and even more surprised to count 51 bullet holes that ripped through her home.
“They lied to me. They told me he was talking when they took him away,” Baron said. “There’s no way that he could have been talking if there was that much blood.”
This shooting and the shooting of Darrell Zemault, who was killed by San Antonio police just over a week ago, have led family members of the deceased calling for police body camera footage to be released.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus has vowed to review the shooting footage, but there is no word on if or when it will be released.
