The man shot by two Bexar County deputies last week during a domestic disturbance had a knife in his hand during the deadly altercation with police, authorities said.
“We believe that Mr. Flores had a knife in his hand,” said Bexar County Sheriff Susan Pemerlau during a televised news conference in San Antonio.
Gilbert Flores, 41, was killed last Friday following a domestic disturbance in a San Antonio suburb where he attacked his wife with knife. He had threatened her child as well.
The shooting became controversial when KSAT, a local TV station bought a video from an eyewitness and published it as it appeared to show Flores with his hands up at the moment he was shot. As Breitbart Texas previously reported, the release of the video led to the two deputies receiving death threats.
Following the threats the sheriff’s office released a statement slamming the TV station for airing the video calling the story “unethical”.
During the conference, Pemerlau said that her agency has a good working relation with the local media and that she had met with KSAT management to iron out the differences The sheriff said that her biggest concern with the video was that they published the moment when a man died. He said this is something that family members will be forced to watch over and over.
“We want everyone to understand that a thorough investigation is taking place, “ Pemerlau said asking for patience as her agency worked with the FBI and the Bexar County DA’s Office in the case.
During the press conference, the sheriff addressed that fact that a second video exists which was taken from a different angle and shows Flores with “something” in his hand.
Prior to the shooting in the video released by KSAT, the situation had escalated to the point where hostage negotiators and a SWAT team had already been called. Flores had already tried to stab a deputy who blocked the attack with a Plexiglas shield, San Antonio Express News reported.
During the news conference, the sheriff confirmed that deputies had unsuccessfully tried to Taser Flores.
“Why did you shoot him in the chest instead of somewhere else when they were trying to arrest him,” a reported asked during the press conference.
Pemerlau said that there is a lot of “force science” that goes into the training of officers and that under duress an officer may or may not be able to hit certain targets.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
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