What happened to Melissa Perez? San Antonio police officers charged in shooting death of 46-year-old woman

Melissa Perez, a 46-year-old woman, was shot to death by three officers of the San Antonio Police Department. The three officers – Sergeant Alfred Flores, Officer Eleazar Alejandro, and Officer Nathaniel Villalobos, were suspended from their positions and arrested on murder charges on Friday, June 23, 2023. Perez was reported for allegedly cutting wires to a fire alarm at her apartment complex.

The police responded to a call regarding the same on Friday at around 12:27 am local time. Upon arriving at the location, the officers found Perez speaking to a fire official. When they tried talking to her, she went inside her apartment. Following a verbal and physical altercation, all three officers shot her and she was declared dead on the spot.

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Melissa Perez was allegedly going through a "mental health crisis" prior to her death

Police Chief William McManus addressed the shooting and the resultant death of Melissa Perez and spoke about her mental state prior to the shooting.

“It appeared that Miss Perez was having a mental health crisis,” he said, as per the New York Post.

After Perez dashed into her house after being confronted by the accused officers, she refused to come out, citing the lack of a warrant. When the officers threatened to shoot her, she allegedly responded, "Shoot me – you ain't got no warrant."

Thereafter, officials reported that Melissa Perez threw a candlestick at the officers and swung a hammer at them. In response, all three officers fired their weapons at her. As per the police report, Perez was shot twice and was declared dead on the spot.

“The officers’ actions were not consistent with SAPD’s policy and training…They placed themselves in a situation where they used deadly force which was not reasonable given all the circumstances as we now understand them,” Chief McManus said.

Currently, the Police Department's Internal Affairs Division, its Civil Rights Division, and the Bexar County District Attorney's Civil Rights Division are investigating the case.

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A GoFundMe page was launched to help with Melissa Perez's funeral expenses

A GoFundme page has been created by Timothy Nieto to raise funds to meet the funeral expenses for Melissa Perez. The page has raised $3,870 at the time of this writing with the help of 34 donations and aims to collect $8,000.

"Please help us cover Melissa's funeral expenses. She did not have life insurance and her children do not have the means to pay for her burial. Any help would be greatly appreciated," the page reads.

Following the death of Melissa Perez, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg spoke to CNN regarding the incident and the arrest of the officers.

“There’s multiple investigations underway. I will tell you that the body cam footage was very disturbing. It disturbed the police chief enough that he’s fired those police officers or placed them on leave, and so again, off the streets…But with regard to the investigation, I’ll tell you that it is very disturbing. Murder charges have already been filed so those police officers, while they still are obviously given due process, they’re no longer on the job in terms of controlling the streets of San Antonio,” he said.

Perez's daughter, Alexis Tovar, in a statement released through her attorney, Dan Packard, said:

“We have always been a pro-police family. This breaks my heart. I always trusted the police to protect me and now I don’t know who to trust. We can’t express how hurt we are”

The officers have been released on a bond of $100,000 each and are individually being investigated on charges of murder.