San Antonio police have released body-camera footage from the August 1 shooting that left 69-year-old Raul Garza dead on the city's West Side, video that shows an officer briefly re-holstering his weapon to try to talk Garza down before five officers opened fire. The footage, made public Wednesday, arrived the same day the city named a permanent police chief to lead the department through the aftermath.
According to WOAI, officers responded to the 600 block of Aurora Avenue on August 1 after a caller reported her neighbor was waving a gun in the front yard. Police say officers arrived to find a man matching that description in possession of a firearm. Garza was pronounced dead at the scene, and police say no officers or bystanders were injured in the shooting.
The initial 911 call actually came from a neighbor who told dispatchers Garza was waving a handgun and who noted he might have been experiencing mental health issues, according to KENS5. That detail meant responding officers were aware of possible mental health factors before they ever reached Aurora Avenue.
How the Confrontation Escalated
Body camera footage shows that when officers first approached Garza, he backed away, claimed he had a knife while reaching toward his waistband, and then ducked behind a tree before producing a handgun from his back pocket, the station's report states. Officers drew their weapons once Garza made that initial claim, and per SAPD, Garza ignored the officers' commands throughout the encounter.
One SAPD officer re-holstered his own firearm in an attempt at verbal negotiation, the outlet reports, and police say officers tried to talk Garza into putting the gun down. But Garza allegedly made a threat toward the officers and, per SAPD, reached for his weapon in its holster. Officers opened fire after Garza walked across the street onto a neighbor's sidewalk and reached for his unholstered handgun three times while continuing to argue with them and refuse commands, the same account notes. Five San Antonio police officers ultimately fired their duty weapons at Garza.
SAPD also disclosed that neighbors in the 600 block of Aurora Avenue had placed multiple 911 calls about Garza in the month before the shooting, reflecting what the department described as ongoing safety concerns about his behavior in the neighborhood.
New Chief Named as Investigations Continue
The footage's release fell on the same day City Manager Erik Walsh appointed Jesse Salame as San Antonio's permanent police chief, according to the San Antonio Report. Salame had served as acting chief since July 11 following the retirement of longtime Chief William McManus, and he described the incident as involving a man waving a handgun in the neighborhood. A 27-year SAPD veteran who joined the department in 1999 and rose through patrol and detective ranks after serving as department spokesman and chief of staff, Salame will become the third Hispanic chief in San Antonio history if the City Council confirms him on September 10.
SAPD's shooting team and its internal affairs unit are each conducting separate, concurrent investigations into the incident. The Bexar County District Attorney's Office is also reviewing the shooting independently, through a Civil Rights Division that DA Joe Gonzales created in October 2020 specifically to examine officer-involved shooting cases after departmental investigations wrap up.
What Happens Next Under Texas Law
Under Chapter 20 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, every Bexar County officer-involved shooting must go before a grand jury, and prosecutors must issue a public explanatory memo if jurors decline to indict. Grand jury proceedings themselves stay confidential under Texas law unless an indictment is returned, meaning the public may not learn the outcome of that process until well after it concludes.
The video's release came under SAPD's critical incident video policy, updated in September 2022 to require that body-worn camera footage and 911 recordings from fatal officer-involved shootings be made public within 30 calendar days. That policy cut the department's previous 60-day window in half following community calls for faster disclosure. It remains notably looser than the standard used elsewhere in the county: Bexar County commissioners imposed a stricter 10-day release mandate on the Sheriff's Office and other county law enforcement agencies in December 2021, according to Texas Public Radio.
The five officers involved in the shooting have between less than one year and four years of service with SAPD, per the department. Officer Joshua Rodriguez has served four years; Officers John Reyes and Aldamaris Flores have served two years each; and Officers Richard Julien and Luis Cortes Garcia have each served under one year. How the Bexar County District Attorney's Civil Rights Division ultimately evaluates the officers' actions before a grand jury remains an open question as the case moves through both departmental and prosecutorial review.
