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In September I wrote about Gilbert Flores who was shot and killed by Bexar County (TX) Sheriff’s as he held his hands up in the air. Initially the shooting of Flores caught more attention because of the manner in which the video was released. The local new agency was given the video and decided to publish it, creating a backlash from the police department who claimed it would hamper their ‘investigation.’ Of course that’s ridiculous but with this new video you might understand the department’s reasoning for that, see below.

Before the video above the only other video was from a man nearly half a block away. In that video it’s even harder to tell if Flores was carrying a knife. In the video above it’s not conclusive but highly probable that he was. You do see something in his hand before picking up the chairs and you do see one of the sheriff’s kick something away from him after he’s on the ground.

What we don’t know is why was Flores shot? The deputies claimed to have used a taser to subdue him but that’s not seen on video. Flores most likely wasn’t following their orders but he wasn’t an immediate threat to anyone. He wasn’t charging at the officers or holding any hostages. So why did the deputies feel the need to shoot him?

IMO, all police officers are trained to escalate situations, they do not have patience and they easily freaked out by non-compliant subjects. The deputies involved will probably say something like, “I thought he was going to throw the knife at me” or “he was going to take our car.” Yet, none of those reasons, or excuses, justify the killing of Flores.

But I don’t know jack because the Sky Valley Chronicle reports that neither officer will be charged, surprise surprise:

A grand jury voted not to indict the deputies involved, Greg Vasquez and Robert Sanchez, on Wednesday. Flores’ family has filed a civil suit against the deputies and the sheriff’s office.

Of course this means that both little piggies are going to be working as police officers in the future. Which is another problem with police today. Even if the actions of Vasquez and Sanchez weren’t criminal they most certainly aren’t qualities I’d want in my ‘police force.’ Which brings me to ask, “should these two be cops after shooting a man with his hands in the air?”

Furthermore, if you take a closer look at the video above, you’ll notice the officer to the left of the deputy with the shield, shoots after the first shot was fired by the other officer. IMO, it seems the second shot was fired based off a reaction to the first one, meaning that cop is a jumpy one. It also seemed to be the case in the recent Miami shooting – where the officers with firearms seemed to fire their weapons AFTER hearing a taser and first gun shot, as if it startled/scared the officers. This is a major problem if you’re a police officer, well, second major problem. I think shooting men with their hands in the air, regardless of their crime (which seems minor for Gilbert) is an issue to be addressed immediately but pulling the trigger on firearms because you hear bangs is most certainly another.

UPDATE (11:32 am): As I was researching this story further it seems that Florez was being aggressively violent with his child and child’s mother. According to the DailyMail Florez was going to go suicide by cop:

In the 911 call, which was released on Friday, Flores’ mother tells police her son has ‘gone crazy’ and that he’s ‘beating up his wife and she’s bleeding’. She also reveals that Flores’ child had a ‘black eye’ and said was tearing up everything in the house and just ‘cursing, cursing, cursing’. ‘He’s got a knife, he’s got a knife,’ she tells the dispatcher. Flores can then be heard yelling that it’s his ‘time to go’. ‘I’m on parole, I’m not going back to prison,’ he can be heard saying in the background. ‘So I’m going to die today.’ Flores also says he’s armed with a knife. ‘I’m going to suicide by cop,’ he says. ‘I’m going to die today.’

I wanted to add this for transparency, as it wasn’t covered in the source I linked to above, but it still doesn’t change the fact that the deputies should NOT have fired their weapons to a man who had his hands in the air. Even if he was guilty of battery and assault, he should have been apprehended and taken to a court where the victims could get justice. I doubt either of his ‘victims’ wanted him shot dead in the driveway outside their house. Therefore, this is still excessive force, a wrongful death and both deputies should NOT be cops anymore, IMO.

UPDATE #2 (12:36 pm): Below is video that bears better audio of the conversation between Florez and Deputies before he was shot, below that is the 911 call.

MIAMI SHOOTING; JUMPY COPS?



What do you think? Was this shooting criminal? Should these officers carry badges and guns?