SAN ANTONIO – On Friday afternoon, San Antonio police released video of body-worn camera footage that shows officers shooting and killing a man who ran from them with a gun in his hand.
The incident happened around 1 a.m. on Nov. 27 in the 4400 block of W. Commerce St., near SW 29th Street on the West Side. The man who officers shot and killed was Steven Allen Lopez, 45.
An SAPD spokesperson said two officers tried to pull a vehicle over after running its license plates and learning that a man with several warrants may be in the car.
The video starts with two officers in a patrol vehicle pulling into a convenience store parking lot and discussing a suspect who was on the run from a shooting at an apartment complex hours earlier. It’s unclear if police thought that suspect may have been in the vehicle they were pulling over.
The video shows the officers pulling out of the parking lot and onto the road and alerting dispatch that they “have a car taking off from us.”
According to a SAPD spokesperson, this is when the officers activated their emergency lights and tried to pull the car over. The vehicle slowed down and the passenger jumped out of the car and ran.
The video shows an officer getting out of the passenger seat of the patrol vehicle and chasing the suspect while yelling to him that he was going to “tase him.”
When the officer yells at the man to get on the ground and show his hands, Lopez turns toward the officer with a gun in his hand.
The two officers shot Lopez multiple times, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.
SAPD said the handgun that was recovered near Lopez was loaded.
At the time of the incident, police said the second suspect drove off and abandoned the vehicle a few blocks away and was not found or identified.
Both officers were placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation.
You can watch the SAPD video in the player at the top of this article. KSAT silenced portions of the video when the officers are using curse words.
The video was one of two police-shooting videos released by SAPD on Friday. You can read about the other one here.