UIW police officer involved in fatal shooting

SAN ANTONIO — Just before University of the Incarnate Word senior Robert Cameron Redus was fatally shot in a struggle with a UIW police officer Friday morning, a neighbor overheard what may have been his last words.

“I heard (a man) say, 'Oh, you're gonna shoot me?'” in a surprised voice, said Mohammad Haidarasl, 22, who was on his couch in his ground-floor unit at the Treehouse Apartments in Alamo Heights at about 2 a.m.

Less than a minute later, Haidarasl heard four to six gunshots.

“I jumped up and hid in my closet,” he said.

Haidarasl didn't look out the window until he heard emergency vehicles converging on the quiet apartment complex. It wasn't until later that he realized the person shot was his upstairs neighbor, whom he described as “the nicest guy.”

Redus, 23, would have graduated from UIW in May, university officials said. He was on the dean's list in fall 2012 and spring 2013, the university's website noted.

Law enforcement officers investigate a crime scene where a 23-year-old man that was shot to death after 2:00 a.m. by a University of the Incarnate Word police officer after a traffic stop that ended in the parking lot of the Treehouse Apartments at Broadway and Arcadia Place in Alamo Heights. Lt. Cindy Pruitt of the Alamo Heights Police Department said the man struggled with the officer after the stop and was shot. An investigation of the incident is ongoing. less Law enforcement officers investigate a crime scene where a 23-year-old man that was shot to death after 2:00 a.m. by a University of the Incarnate Word police officer after a traffic stop that ended in the ... more Photo: JOHN DAVENPORT, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS Photo: JOHN DAVENPORT, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close UIW police officer involved in fatal shooting 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

Videos from UIWTV.org, a campus television station operated by students in the Communication Arts Department, showed Redus anchoring news segments last year.

He had four brothers and grew up in Baytown, where he graduated as co-valedictorian from Baytown Christian Academy, friends said.

A statement released by the family said, “We are understandably devastated by the death of our dear son Cameron and we ask for your prayers as we deal with our tragic loss. We trust that God is faithful and will see us through this most difficult time.”

As details of the shooting were slow to emerge Friday, friends had questions about what exactly occurred when UIW police Cpl. Christopher J. Carter tried to pull Redus over for a traffic violation, and whether the use of force was necessary.

Sara Davis, 20, and her sister Annie Jones, 22, both of Baytown, described Redus as kind, intelligent, compassionate and well-loved within the community.

“He was not an aggressive person at all, so the story doesn't make sense,” Davis said.

Alamo Heights police Lt. Cindy Pruitt said Carter, in a marked UIW pickup, told officials he noticed Redus speeding and driving his Ford Ranger pickup erratically on Broadway.

He was not on campus, Pruitt said, and officials did not give an exact location where Carter first spotted Redus.

Pruitt said both vehicles, with Carter's emergency lights on, drove north on Broadway until they pulled into the parking lot of the Treehouse Apartments at Broadway and Arcadia Place.

Once in the parking lot, they both got out of their vehicles and became involved in a struggle, Pruitt said. The officer radioed for help during the struggle and Redus was shot multiple times.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Carter has been placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation, the university announced Friday afternoon. He was described by university officials as having an “extensive law enforcement background.”

Over the course of Carter's eight-year law career in Texas, he has held nine jobs at eight agencies, including two stints at the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, files kept by the state agency for licensing peace officers show.

He rarely was at an agency more than a year and his shortest job was for seven months as a reserve officer for the San Antonio Municipal Court Marshals Division. So far, the two years and seven months he's spent at UIW is the longest stretch of employment, the files show.

The University of the Incarnate Word employs 17 police officers who all are licensed and trained as state-certified peace officers, university spokeswoman Debra Del Toro said. None of the officers carries a Taser.

A state-licensed peace officer working for a private institution can enforce state and municipal laws outside the campus jurisdiction in a variety of instances, says the Texas Education Code, which governs the agencies.

That includes “whether the officer is on property under the control and jurisdiction of the institution, but provided these duties are consistent with the educational mission of the institution and are being performed within a county in which the institution has land,” the code states.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the student and officer involved in this incident,” UIW President Dr. Lou Agnese said in a news release.

Police were investigating whether Redus had a weapon or was threatening the police officer's life, Pruitt said. The Texas Rangers are assisting in the investigation.

“This is really in its preliminary stages,” Pruitt said. “This investigation will go on for days.”

Haidarasl said no one from the Alamo Heights Police Department had tried contacting him, other than Friday morning when he went outside and officers told him he wouldn't be able to move his truck for a while.

Friday afternoon, he stood and chatted with neighbor Bea Perry, who lives in the same building. She, too, expressed surprise that Redus was the one shot by officers.

“He was such a nice kid; he had so much potential,” Perry said, adding that she hoped someone would be around to care for Redus' fluffy black cat.

“So did you see anything?” she asked Haidarasl.

He launched into his story again, explaining that he heard the officer say more than once, “Stop resisting, stop resisting.”

He thought he heard a struggle, he said.

“Then the cop said, 'I'm going to shoot,'” Haidarasl said.

And that, Haidarasl added, was what garnered the off-handed, sarcastic comment from their neighbor.

Then the silence, followed by gunfire.

mmondo@express-news.net

Staff Writer Alia Malik contributed to this report.

An earlier version of this story mischaracterized a statement from witness Mohammad Haidarasl.