Three San Antonio police officers were charged with murder on Friday, less than 24 hours after they fatally shot a woman during a police call, their chief announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officer Eleazar Alejandro, 28; Sgt. Alfred Flores, 45; and Officer Nathaniel Villalobos, 27, are suspended from the force without pay as the investigation continues. All were released on $100,000 bond, Bexar County jail records show, and none has commented to CNN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe shooting officers\u2019 actions were not consistent with SAPD policies and training, and they placed themselves in a situation where they used deadly force which was not reasonable given all the circumstances as we now understand them,\u201d Chief William McManus said in a news conference Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police were responding to a call that a woman later identified as Melissa Ann Perez, 46, was cutting wires to a fire alarm system at her apartment complex, McManus said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt appeared that Ms. Perez was having a mental health crisis,\u201d said the chief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After initially speaking with officers outside, Perez went back inside her apartment and locked the door, according to McManus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officers continued to talk to Perez through a rear patio window, urging her to come out, edited and blurred body camera video released by the police department shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou ain\u2019t got no warrant!\u201d she says twice, according to the body camera video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One officer tried to open the window, and McManus said Perez threw a glass candleholder at him, McManus said. She later swung a hammer at an officer but hit the window instead, breaking it, police said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to McManus, one officer opened fire, but Perez was not hit and could be heard still speaking on the body camera video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But seconds later, Perez \u201cadvanced toward the window again while still holding the hammer, and all three officers opened fire,\u201d McManus said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than a dozen shots are heard on the body camera video. Perez was struck at least twice, McManus said. Officers \u201cattempted life-saving measures,\u201d the arrest warrant said, but Perez died at the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although she was allegedly approaching the officers with a hammer when they opened fire, the arrest warrant said Perez \u201cdid not pose an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death when she was shot because the defendants had a wall, a window blocked by a television, and a locked door between them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CNN has requested the unedited body camera videos in the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perez\u2019s children, who range in age from 9 to 24 years old, are have been struck with \u201cincomprehensible grief\u201d following their mothers\u2019 death, the family\u2019s attorney, Dan Packard, told CNN Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no words to explain to a 9-year-old how three police officers all thought it was okay to gun this woman down in unison while she was in her own house behind a wall,\u201d Packard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The San Antonio Police Officers\u2019 Association expressed its condolences for Perez\u2019s family in a statement Monday. Citing the active investigation, the association said it \u201ccannot speak to the matter further until the investigation is complete and judicial process is underway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFollowing the tragic incident, Chief McManus followed all necessary protocols. All three officers have been suspended indefinitely,\u201d the police association said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The swiftness of the charges against the officers reflects a trend as communities reckon with police accountability in the wake of the death of George Floyd<\/a> in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Five officers in Memphis, Tennessee, were quickly charged in the death of Tyre Nichols<\/a>, in contrast to earlier cases, such as the police shooting of Jacob Blake<\/a>, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in which officials decided not to charge the officer five months later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officer use of force also has been under scrutiny nationwide, especially against people facing mental health crises. The City of Rochester, New York, reached a settlement with the family of Daniel Prude<\/a>, who died following an encounter with police. In Virginia, Irvo Otieno<\/a> died after being pinned to the floor by security officers at a state mental health facility. And in California, Miles Hall<\/a> was shot by police during what his family called a mental health episode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perez\u2019 family is \u201cheartbroken<\/a>,\u201d it said, and plans to file a lawsuit against the city, according to reports and information from family attorney, Dan Packard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n