Police claim they have a second video depicting last Friday’s killing of Gilbert Flores, who appeared to have his hands up when two officers opened fired on him. A Member of Congress is now urging its prompt release.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said on Tuesday that the “encounter is extremely disturbing as it appears to show an unarmed man with his hands up being shot by a deputy.”
He later took to Twitter to call for transparency from the police.
“I hope the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office will release the second video in the Gilbert Flores shooting as soon as possible,” Rep. Castro tweeted on Tuesday. He then re-tweeted a comment calling on all San Antonio police officers to be equipped with body cameras.
The two officers, Greg Vasquez and Robert Sanchez, were not wearing body cameras during the incident. The Brexar County city council, however, approved a measure on Tuesday increasing funding for the initiative.
Initial footage captured by a bystander and sold to a local news outlet, depicted the killing of 41-year-old Flores, who had a confrontation with police outside his San Antonio home following a domestic dispute call.
The Bexar County Sherriff’s Department claimed Flores was armed with a knife, however the video appears to show Flores raise his hands in the air moments before police gunned him down.
“At the time he was shot it didn’t’ look like he was posing a threat,” said Michael Thomas who recorded the footage.
Police claim a second video, which was not released to the public, presents a “very clear view” of the incident,” according to the Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood, who called the second video “disturbing.”
Dispatcher audio suggests that Flores had used a knife to injure a woman at the scene, and may have been attempting suicide by cop.
Local police initially objected to the release of the first video, calling the local news station KSAT’s decision to post it “unethical and sad.”
“If you agree, let the local media know this sort of sensational behavior doesn’t fly in Bexar County,” the Brexar County Sheriff’s department said in a statement on Monday.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, meanwhile, announced on Tuesday that it would be opening a civil rights investigation into the shooting of Flores, who was Hispanic.
“Experienced civil rights investigators from the FBI will thoroughly review the facts and circumstances surrounding the shooting. Our focus is to determine whether a civil rights violation took place as a result of a deputy willfully engaging in the use of excessive or unjustified force,” said in a statement.
The excessive use of force by police against minorities in the US is an issue that’s been catapulted on to main stage of public debate in this country thanks to the organizing efforts of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. The public’s attention to the issue is what motivated Michael Thomas to pull out his cell phone and begin recording the confrontation.
“I thought with everything going on in the world, with police shootings and everything, I thought I would record what was happening,” he told CNN.
Officers Vasquez and Sanchez have placed on paid administrative leave while the investigations are underway.
