SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio Police Department officer has been terminated after shooting a teenager on Sunday.
This happened just before 10:30 p.m. near the McDonald's at Blanco and West Avenue, which is north of downtown.
Video shows the officer opened the driver's side door and ordered the teen out of the car. The car backed up, and within seconds the officer fired five shots into the car at point-blank range.
As the car drove away, the officer fired five more rounds. The teen was hit multiple times. There also was a passenger in the car with him.
The department said the probationary police officer, James Brennand, had served on the force for seven months before this shooting. Officers are on probation for one year after graduating from the Police Academy, according to an SAPD news release.
"There's nothing that I can say that could defend what he did, his actions that night," San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said.
"Consistent with the Department’s Critical Incident Video Release Procedure, the Department also published the video from the officer-involved shooting in question," the release says.
The narrated video by SAPD can be found here. Warning: The video may be difficult to watch for some viewers.
KENS 5 previously reported that authorities said that when they arrived at the location, an officer recognized the man, saying he had fled from him on Saturday night.
SAPD's narrated video says the driver has been identified as 17-year-old Erik Cantu. There was also a 17-year-old female in the passenger seat. Authorities found them a block away after they got out of the car.
"Officers are prohibited from shooting at moving vehicles unless it's in defense of life, and that particular case that evening was not in defense of life," McManus said.
He said officers didn't find any guns on Cantu or in the car he was driving. He added that neither Cantu nor the car he was driving had anything to do with the disturbance call Brennand was responding to on Sunday night.
"We don't know who was driving that vehicle the day before, so I don't know what the officer was thinking. But, we don't know who was driving that vehicle the day before, nor did he," McManus said.
KENS 5 asked McManus whether the incident will prompt a closer look at training new officers.
"Our training is sound. There's nothing that we need to change that would fix what happened. That was an individual officer's actions, his own discretion," McManus said. "And again, there's nothing that I can say that could justify what happened."
Cantu was charged with evading detention in a vehicle and assault on a peace officer. He was recovering in a hospital as of Wednesday.
On Monday when KENS 5 initially reported this incident, police said that officers tried to detain the man, but he drove away, hitting Brennand. The officer fired his weapon at the fleeing suspect multiple times as he drove away, hitting him multiple times.
Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales released a statement on the shooting.
“The Bexar County District Attorney’s Civil Rights Division will fully review the evidence submitted by the San Antonio Police Department into the shooting of Erik Cantu by a now former police officer once the SAPD investigation is complete," he said. "The DA’s Office will also review all evidence related to the charges against Erik Cantu once we have received it. The DA’s Office can make no comment on whether charges may be pursued against either individual until all evidence has been reviewed.”