As a pair of Bexar County sheriff’s deputies had a 12-minute confrontation with domestic violence suspect Gilbert Flores on Aug. 28, 2015, one deputy turned to the other in a sign that they would not let the incident drag on and that they were going to follow a supervisor’s commands to “do whatever you have to do.”

The deputies agreed on “ending this” and opened fire, one after the other, just as Flores — who earlier had tried to stab them, took away a police Taser and came close to getting a deputy’s AR-15 rifle — had seemed to stop his erratic behavior and raised his hands above his head in what appeared to be surrender, according to new details recently obtained by the San Antonio Express-News.

Flores, 41, who apparently still had a knife in his left hand, collapsed from his fatal wounds in his parents’ driveway in far North Bexar County, where deputies Greg Vasquez and Robert Sanchez had been summoned because Flores had assaulted his wife and their infant daughter, who was then 18 days old.

That deputies agreed on “ending” the matter is one of several never-before-disclosed details that are included in a court motion opposing a request by the deputies to throw out the lawsuit Flores’ family filed against the deputies and Bexar County.

In the 388-page filing, lawyers for the Flores family argue that the deputies’ agreement on “ending” the matter, but shooting Flores at the wrong moment in the confrontation, shows the deputies no longer faced an imminent threat and cannot use as a shield a long-standing legal principle called qualified immunity that protects police from liability.

The lawyers, with the Thomas J. Henry firm, say the deputies unreasonably used deadly force in violation of Flores’ constitutional rights. And, they argue the deputies gave conflicting details of what happened during the incident that went viral online because of a bystander’s video of the shooting that was broadcast by a local television station.

“There were a lot of inconsistencies,” Henry said.

In December 2015, nearly four months after the shooting, a Bexar County grand jury declined to indict the deputies on criminal charges. District Attorney Nico LaHood’s office presented the indictment in its role as prosecutor and now that same office is defending the county in the civil case.

LaHood has denied any conflict of interest.

However, in 2015, Henry sought a special prosecutor for the case, arguing that the DA’s office should withdraw from civil cases that might hurt a county’s legal assets.

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‘No imminent threat’

Vasquez, for instance, said in a deposition in January that Flores was 6 to 8 feet away from him, and advancing toward him. But the video “clearly” shows that Flores was 29 feet away, no longer moving and was not advancing toward Vasquez, the lawyers argue.

“The mere fact that Vasquez and Sanchez discussed ‘ending this’ before the shooting of Gilbert Flores takes away the Defendant Deputies’ argument as to the immediate threat of harm at the moment of the shooting,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote. “At the moment deadly force was used, there was no imminent threat to justify it.

The lawyers add to their argument a separate, 50-minute video another witness took of the shooting that they say contradicts the deputies’ claims that they were in imminent danger. A police expert hired by the Flores family’s lawyers reviewed the videotape, a second video that was broadcast by KSAT-TV, and other evidence, and gave opinions evaluating the shooting. That expert noted that, for five seconds, Flores appeared to be motionless with his hands over his head in apparent surrender, though he had a knife in his left hand.

In statements after the shooting, the deputies claimed Flores was still near a police SUV that had an AR-15 rifle inside. But both videos show Flores had moved away from the Tahoe and was behind the vehicle when he raised his hands and was shot.

The plaintiff’s version is in contrast to the opinions from a police-incident expert for the defense, who argues that the entire confrontation needs to be taken into account. Over 12 minutes, Flores tried to stab one of the deputies with a knife, moved toward them with the knife, refused commands to drop the weapon, took a Taser gun away from Vasquez, and opened the door to Vasquez’s patrol Chevrolet Tahoe, which had the keys in the ignition and the AR-15 inside, according to exhibits included in the plaintiffs’ motion and separate court filings from Charles Frigerio, a lawyer defending the deputies, and Bexar County’s legal defense team.

In his filings, Frigerio said the plaintiffs have to take the totality of the circumstances into account, and not ignore that Flores attempted “serious bodily injury or death” on both deputies.

Frigerio argues that Flores’ distance, even if more than 20 feet, shouldn’t matter because he had a knife and still posed a threat. Throughout the confrontation, Flores kept yelling and taunting the deputies to shoot him because he did not want to go back to prison.

Frigerio argues that nonlethal attempts to de-escalate the situation were unsuccessful, and the deputies proceeded to use lethal force after being instructed by supervisors not to let the knife-wielding Flores back into the house so he could further assault family members, and to prevent him from taking a patrol car or grabbing the AR-15.

“Do whatever you have to do,” one supervisor, Sgt. Roger Pedraza, told the deputies over police radio, according to a police report and depositions in the case. Pedraza and another supervisor also radioed the deputies an order to “Stop him, by all means stop him.”

Before Flores was fatally shot, one of the deputies fired a bullet at Flores to try to prevent Flores from re-entering the house. The shot missed him but hit a brick of the home.

Flores was given one last chance to drop his knife, Frigerio said in an interview with the Express-News. But Flores didn’t. Instead, he yelled again that he was not going back to prison, and “I’m doing suicide by cop,’” Frigerio said.

And, Flores moved the knife from his right hand to his left hand in a “pre-attack indicator,” according to Frigerio

“Their options were limited,” Frigerio said. “This had to come to an end.”

Frigerio argues that the deputies did not violate Flores’ rights and that a judge should grant them summary judgment, a dismissal before trial, because the deputies are covered by qualified immunity. The county’s filings also seek dismissal, arguing there was no pattern or practice in wrongly training their deputies.

What triggered the rampage

Flores had a history of attempts at “suicide by cop” — trying to goad officers to shoot him, and had served 10 years of a 15-year prison sentence for robbing a McDonald’s with pruning shears and pulling a knife on a police officer as Flores urged the officer to shoot him, according to a previous Express-News story that cites police, court and prison records.

Before the shooting, Flores, his wife, Maritza Amador, and their infant daughter had been staying with Flores’ parents at their home in the 24000 block of Walnut Pass, near Scenic Loop Road. Flores was on parole but had been working at the same company as his father.

Despite his job as a data clerk, Flores complained about his financial problems and told his wife that he was “a failure” and planned to kill himself, according to the sheriff’s office investigative report included in the lawsuit’s court file.

“Maritza explained that the decedent was upset for the past two … days because he had found out that he was not included in his father’s will and stressed that he was not going to get anything,” the report said.

The morning of the shooting, Flores cut himself superficially with a knife that hung from a lanyard around his neck, and argued with Amador, the police report said. Flores pushed Amador’s face against a headboard as she held the infant, and punched her in the face three to four times as Amador tried to protect the baby. Flores then hit Amador over the head three to four times with a walking stick. Amador bled.

“Maritza also explained that after she was assaulted, (Flores) was able to grab the infant child from her arms and was hanging the baby from his mouth and as he was biting the baby’s clothing,” the report said.

Flores’ mother, Carmen Flores, called 911. Gilbert Flores is heard in the background of the 911 call saying: “You’re gonna have to kill me. I promise you that. It’s my time to go.”

Vasquez arrived first about 11:46 a.m.

In a deposition taken in January, Vasquez testified that he parked his Tahoe, grabbed his shield and after announcing himself, entered the house with his gun drawn.

As Flores’ relatives sat silent, Flores came through an interior doorway, with a knife in his hand and said, “I’m not going back. I just did 10 years,” Vasquez said.

Vasquez said he tried to calm him: “Put the knife down, you’re going to be all right.” Then, Vasquez put his gun away, and took out his Taser, and again asked Flores to “put the knife down. You’re going to be all right.”

Flores refused and came toward the deputy, who exited the house. Flores followed him, and on the porch, he was “waving the knife around, hands going up and down, flopping around,” Vasquez said in his deposition. Flores then went back in and slammed the door as Vasquez radioed for a negotiator.

Sometime during the exchange, Sanchez arrived. Flores came back out and tried to stab Vasquez, but the deputy blocked Flores with his shield, according to the report and Vasquez’s deposition.

“I want to say that’s when Deputy Sanchez fired one round at him and he went running,” Vasquez testified.

Vasquez warned Sanchez to be careful where he shoots because there were people in the house.

Vasquez also said he used his Taser, but Flores blocked the stun gun’s leads with a chair and they got tangled in the chair. During the struggle, Vasquez hit Flores with the Taser and it fell from his hands. Flores picked it up, and fired the empty stun gun toward the deputies. Then he threw it across the street, according to the police report, depositions both deputies gave and statements from other witnesses.

In his deposition, Sanchez gave a similar account backing Vasquez — though Henry and another lawyer with his firm hammered both deputies for variations on inconsistencies in the details. Sanchez said he fired at Flores initially to prevent Flores from re-entering the home.

“I didn’t know if he was going to go finish the job or what, or ... or whether he saw me with a gun so he decided he’s going to go get a gun,” Sanchez said in his deposition. “That’s why I fired.”

In the end, Vasquez and Sanchez said they shot Flores upon supervisor’s orders and stood firm in their belief that Gilbert Flores was a danger because he still had the knife, despite having his arms up.

“He was — he was shaking his hands the whole time,” Vasquez said in his deposition. “And if you lead up to everything going to that, I’m not going to believe that he’s surrendering, no sir.”

“He never, never showed that he was not a threat,” Sanchez said in his deposition. “He was always a threat. Whether immediate or not, he was always a threat.”

gcontreras@express-news.net

Twitter: @gmaninfedland

Staff Writer John Tedesco contributed to this story.