Seven police officers in San Antonio, Texas, were shot and killed by a barricaded suspect Wednesday evening, 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 member of the suspect’s family about a “suicide in progress” at an apartment complex in the Stone Oak neighborhood, north of San Antonio.
The first officer to arrive “was shot in the lower extremity,” McManus said.
“Another police officer who arrived after him, or around the same time as him, was also shot,” the police chief continued. “The third officer who arrived on scene was also shot. And ultimately, the fourth officer who arrived on scene was shot, I believe it was in the upper torso.”
All four officers were hospitalized with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening, McManus said.
Later, in a video posted to Facebook, McManus said the number of officers shot was actually seven in total. He revealed nothing about the condition of the other three.
In the video, McManus said it was unclear whether the suspect shot himself or was hit by police gunfire.
He described the suspect as a man in his 40s.
“The suspect was the subject of three arrests on January 18, two for assault and one for DWI. He was out on bail at the time,” McManus said.
Some surrounding units were evacuated during the incident, which McManus said lasted “several hours” in the video.
The four injured officers McManus initially mentioned had between four and eight years of experience with the department, he said.
Apartment complex resident Joseph Loredo told CBS San Antonio affiliate KENS-TV that he was studying for a test when he “heard a loud noise” then saw helicopters overhead of him. He said he later heard a series of gunshots.
“I just heard a loud pop; it was like one pop. I didn’t think much about it and my mom lives with me so she told me to go out to the balcony because she heard a lot “noise,” Loredo said. “Sure enough, when we went out onto the balcony, we heard a group of helicopters. And then 20 seconds after we got there, we heard more gunshots. It was like two or three shots I told my mom, ‘Hey mom, those are gunshots.'”
