A teenage suspect in custody at Bexar County Jail in San Antonio pulled a hidden weapon and ended his life on Sunday afternoon, according to Sheriff Javier Salazar. Nineteen-year-old Jesus Gonzales was detained following his arrest on a charge involving family violence, the KENS 5 reported.
It was disclosed by Sheriff Salazar that, all individuals booked on felony offenses should be strip-searched according to department policy, a procedure that was not supplemented by the use of a body scanner prior to the incident. "This is the first time that I remember that a gun made it this far in," Salazar stated. Despite being patted down before the strip search, Gonzales managed to hide the weapon in his baggy basketball shorts, which he used to inflict fatal harm upon himself.
Following department protocol, the deputy involved, a sheriff's officer with less than five years of service, has been placed on administrative leave. The Bexar County Sheriff's Office is conducting its internal probe while the San Antonio Police Department's Homicide Unit, along with its Internal Affairs unit, launches parallel investigations, as per a spokesperson in a statement to KENS 5.
Sheriff Salazar emphasized the point, "We had a deputy literally face to face with a suspect and the deputy is unarmed," according to KEN5. The arresting officer from the San Antonio Police Department, who initially took Gonzales into custody, should have checked for contraband as part of the SAPD procedure, which underscores a significant breach in protocol following his ability to smuggle a firearm into the jail.
Questions have been raised about the SAPD's handling of the prisoner before arrival at the detention center. Salazar said, "Clearly, a weapon was missed," the KSAT reported. Requests for comment from San Antonio's Police Chief William McManus have gone unanswered, leaving open questions about the thoroughness of the initial search and the arresting officer's adherence to established policies regarding mental health inquiries.
