Seven San Antonio, Texas police officers were shot by a barricaded suspect Wednesday night, the city’s police chief said. The suspect was found dead from a gunshot wound, he added.
Chief William McManus told reporters the incident began when officers responded to a call from a family member of the suspect regarding a “suicide in progress” at an apartment complex in the Stone Oak neighborhood of north San Antonio.
The first officer who arrived “was shot in the lower extremity,” McManus said.
“Another officer arriving after him, or about the same time as him, was also shot,” the police chief continued. “Third officer arriving on the scene was shot as well. And finally, the fourth officer who arrived on the scene was shot, I believe that was in the upper torso.”
The four officers were hospitalized with what were believed to be non-life-threatening injuries, McManus said.
Later, in a video posted on Facebook, McManus said the number of officers shot was actually seven in all. He didn’t disclose anything about the condition of the three others.
In the video, McManus said it wasn’t clear whether the suspect shot himself or was hit by police gunfire.
He had described the suspect as a man in his 40s.
“The suspect had three arrests on Jan. 18, two for assault offenses and one for DWI. He was out on bond at the time,” McManus said.
Some surrounding units were evacuated during the incident, which McManus said in the video went on for “several hours.”
The four wounded officers McManus originally mentioned had between four and eight years of experience with the department, he said.
A resident of the apartment complex, Joseph Loredo, told CBS San Antonio affiliate KENS-TV he was studying for an exam when he “heard a loud pop,” then saw helicopters overhead. He said he later heard a series of shots.
“I just heard a loud pop; it was a like a single pop. I didn’t think much of it and my mom is living with me so she told me to come out to the balcony because she heard a lot of noise,” Loredo said. “Sure enough, when we go out to the balcony, we heard a bunch of helicopters. And then 20 seconds after we were out there, we heard more shots. It was like two or three shots. I told my mom, ‘Hey mom, those are gunshots.'”
