Texas Sheriff's Deputy Shoots, Kills Man Who Reached for Gun

SAN ANTONIO -- More details on a deadly struggle between Bexar County deputies and a despondent man were released Wednesday as protesters questioned the absence of a mental health professional in the incident.

Sheriff Javier Salazar said Damian Lamar Daniels, 30, was the subject of four mental health-related calls before he was killed during the struggle with three deputies Tuesday evening in the 11000 block of Liberty Field.

Daniels’ family made the first call at 4:08 p.m. Monday, telling deputies that Daniels was having suicidal thoughts. Deputies went to Daniels’s home where he lived by himself, but he did not answer the door.

At 10:30 p.m., a second call came from Daniels himself.

He told officials he was hearing things, there was a ghost in his house, and that he was feeling paranoid. Deputies were able to talk to him outside his house, but described his as being “curt,” and refusing help, the sheriff said.

Neighbors told deputies they heard a shot fired from Daniels’ home after deputies left the home, but they did not call authorities.

As deputies searched Daniels home Tuesday, they found the spent shell casing, Salazar said.

On Tuesday, a third call came from family members at 3:48 p.m. They said he was having a paranoiac episode, Salazar said.

He had sent messages to family members saying that he was hearing and seeing things, referencing family members who passed away.

Salazar said Daniels had recently lost a sibling and a parent, but did not identify them citing privacy concerns.

At 4:48 p.m., Daniels’ mother called deputies saying that he agreed to go out and talk to them.

Salazar noted that Daniels was more lucid in that meeting with deputies as he spoke to them through his door, but his mental state had worsened.

After Daniels stepped outside, Salazar said deputies could see a “bulge” at his hip and determined there was a handgun beneath his red shirt.

One of the deputies reached out and said “Give me your hand, we’ll get you the help that you need,” Salazar said.

The same deputy had been coordinating a nonverbal plan with his partners to detain Daniels and get him help.

When Daniels turned his head to the side, another deputy tried grabbing his right arm to gain control of him and take him to the ground, Salazar said.

When the attempt did not work, a deputy attempted to use a stun gun on Daniels, who instead grabbed the deputy’s stun gun. After a struggle between the two, the deputy was able to keep the stun gun as another deputy used her own on Daniels, loosening his grip.

The struggle continued as Daniels reached for his own gun. Images released by BCSO showed deputies with their hands on the pistol as Daniels had a grip on the gun beneath his red shirt.

In that struggle, Salazar said the deputies were “pleading” with him to let go of the gun.

“It was very clear they were in a fight for their lives,” Salazar said.

Images taken from body camera footage of the encounter, which lasted more than 30 minutes, showed Daniels was carrying a Glock Model 22 .40 caliber pistol. He also had a second magazine and a knife.

More than an hour after Salazar released details of the fatal shooting, about 50 activists who have sought Black equality in the wake of George Floyd’s killing gathered outside the sheriff’s office at 200 North Comal St. to protest Daniels’ death.

Some stood in front of BCSO vehicles trying to get them to say “Black lives matter.”

Lexi Qaiyyim, an organizer with Young Ambitous Activists, said situations like this are exactly why protesters are calling for defunding the police. Qaiyyim said they do not believe police are equipped to handle mental health calls.

Officials said the deputies involved in this incident have received more than 80 hours of crisis intervention training in addition to their state-mandated crisis intervention training updates, which are provided through in-service training.

Salazar praised the deputies for handling the situation the way they did, but expressed his sympathies for the fact that a man lost his life.

“Our deputies and officers are forced to become mental-health workers and they’re very talented at that,” Salazar said, adding that they are doing what they can with the tools they have.

Salazar said he doesn’t think a mental health worker would have been appropriate for the situation with Daniels.

“This is a suspect that we realize was armed very early on, and I think that our deputies were well-equipped to handle that situation,” Salazar said.

According to Salazar, he’s pitched a plan that would place mental health workers with deputies on certain calls.

Asked if the shooting was racially motivated, Salazar said “I can tell you unequivocally, that did not play a role in this.”

Salazar said the deputies were talking to the man with a loving tone, and that they were relating to him either via losses of their own, or through his military service.

Officials said investigators are communicating with Fort Sam Houston personnel to ascertain Daniels’ specific service with the armed forces.

Jacob Beltran is a reporter covering San Antonio and Bexar County. To read more from Jacob, become a subscriber. [email protected] | Twitter: @JBfromSA

———

Visit the San Antonio Express-News at www.mysanantonio.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.