Posted on August 20, 2024

Grand Jury Declines to Indict San Marcos Police Officer for Fatal Shooting of 22-Year-Old

Rachel Royster, Austin American-Statesman, August 16, 2024

After a San Marcos police officer shot and killed 22-year-old Malachi Williams in April, Williams’ family demanded the body-worn camera video be released immediately for the sake of transparency.

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A grand jury declined Wednesday to indict the officer, Alcides “Alex” Ventura, determining that his actions had been justified under Texas law, according to Hays County District Attorney Kelly Higgins’ office. {snip}

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The police were called at 9:32 p.m. April 11 by a man who alleged he and another person had been threatened and assaulted by Williams, who was armed with two large knives. Williams had followed the pair out of a convenience store to their home, where the victims went inside and called 911.

After arriving and speaking with the victims, Ventura searched the area for Williams. The officer found him back at the convenience store.

In the video, Ventura can be heard telling Williams to put his hands behind his back, and Williams asked why. The interaction moved outside of the convenience store as Ventura continued to tell Williams to put his hands behind his back, the footage showed. {snip}

Williams ran away, the footage showed, and Ventura unsuccessfully attempted to shock Williams with his Taser twice. After a minute of foot pursuit, Ventura fired his gun three times at Williams from across an H-E-B gas station lot. {snip}

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Ventura later said in a statement that when Williams reached the gas station parking lot, he armed himself with both knives, blades pointing down, and continued to run {snip}

Standridge also showed surveillance footage from the H-E-B store to show that the parking lot Williams was headed to was busy.

“I was worried that the suspect was going to harm a civilian, and I had to prevent that from occurring,” Ventura said in an affidavit {snip}

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Original Article