By Peggy O’Hare
San Antonio Express-News
SCHERTZ, Texas — The unarmed felon shot to death by Bexar County sheriff’s deputies at a Schertz mobile home park last week told the officers she had a gun and would shoot them, words uttered just before they opened fire, killing her and a child inside the home, Sheriff Javier Salazar said Tuesday.
One person inside the home with the child also reported hearing Amanda Lene Jones, 30, make those statements, Salazar said.
The four deputies opened fire, killing Jones as she stood on the porch of the mobile home and fatally injuring Kameron Prescott, 6.
The Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident, and Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood’s office Tuesday said it would “analyze the initial work” of the probe and “evaluate all additional evidence as it is gathered.”
The gunfire Thursday in the 100 block of Peach Lane in the Pecan Grove Manufactured Home Community ended a chase that had lasted several hours. Jones had no connection to the family members inside the mobile home but had entered and demanded their car keys, Salazar said.
“Someone from inside the trailer that (Jones) forced her way into … said that she had an object in her hand. They believed it could have been a weapon,” Salazar said Tuesday. “And when she exited the house, the witness heard the suspect proclaim to whoever was outside — we now know that was the deputies — ‘I have a gun, I’m going to shoot you.’”
The four deputies have been placed on administrative leave, a standard practice immediately following an officer-involved shooting. Salazar emphasized that the investigation is in its early stages.
“We feel it is important to carefully review all of the facts and circumstances surrounding the officers’ use of force and not form any premature conclusions before the investigation is finalized,” a prepared statement released by LaHood’s office said. “If the completed investigation indicates the actions of the deputies rise to the level (of) a criminal offense, our office will take appropriate action at that time.”
Jones was found to be unarmed when killed, though she was holding a dark, metal tube that looked like a gun before deputies fired their weapons, sheriff’s officials have said.
Investigators still are searching for the gun that Jones was seen carrying when deputies confronted her during the chase, Salazar said.
“Earlier in the day, there were three different deputies on two different occasions that tell us they were not only physically threatened with that gun — they saw it pointed at them — but she verbalized at that point, too, that she was going to harm them with it,” the sheriff said.
A man had called authorities to report that a woman had stolen his vehicle and gave them an address where she could be found. Jones, who had a lengthy criminal history, was discovered hiding in a closet at a home on FM 1518, displayed a gun and bolted from the residence.
She eluded growing numbers of officers that joined the chase, swam across Cibolo Creek, disappeared into a wooded area and eventually ran to the mobile home park near the creek on FM 78.
One witness, retired landscaper Carl Allen, reported that Jones appeared unarmed, dressed in only shorts and a halter top when he saw her walking barefoot up the banks of the creek.
“She definitely didn’t have (a gun) when I saw her,” Allen told the San Antonio Express-News last week. “I got a good look, front and back, and there was no gun, even concealed.”
Other witnesses reported Jones desperately attempting to break into vehicles, cursing at one and yelling “Help me, help me!” at another.
She finally forced her way into the mobile home where the child lived and confronted two of his relatives, demanding their car, Salazar said.
“She was holding this object they believed might be a weapon, demanding the keys to their car, telling them that if they didn’t give her the car, she was just going to go out, break the window and steal it,” the sheriff said.
Jones died outside the trailer of multiple gunshot wounds. Kameron suffered a gunshot to his abdomen and later was pronounced dead at University Hospital.
“We’re not going to rest until we have some answers,” Salazar said. “I fully realize that (the child’s) family is entitled to some answers. And it is my job to give them those answers. I’m not going to stop until I have them.”
Juan Contreras, president of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Bexar County, said he hopes the investigation is done carefully but said he has been disappointed in the district attorney’s office “over the years” for not giving what he called “due justice” to deputies.
“I would hope and dream that the DA’s office and the Sheriff’s Office will take this step by step, and measure twice and cut once,” Contreras said.
“My main concern are the deputies. Because right now, there’s a question out there - what happened to that little boy? And that’s a big concern. And it’s a tragic loss,” he said.
©2017 the San Antonio Express-News