City releases body-worn camera footage of Malachi Williams officer-involved shooting

SAN MARCOS POLICE DEPARTMENT

The city of San Marcos held a press conference at the San Marcos Police Department in which San Marcos Police Chief Stan Standridge showed bodyworn camera footage of the officer-involved shooting of Malachi Williams, 22, that occurred on April 11 of this year. Standridge released the name of the officer who fired the lethal shots, Alcides “Alex” Ventura. Ventura was issued a no-bill by a Grand Jury this week, which means there was no indictment. A press release from the District Attorney’s office previously stated that “the Grand Jury considered the evidence and determined that the officer’s actions were justified under Texas law.”

Williams' family, who spoke after the city’s press conference at a separate press conference held by Mano Amiga, continued to question the police account of the shooting as well as alleging the police could be covering up wrongdoing.

“Our system is totally messed up. It's not right that anybody should take a person's life,” said Wayne Miller, Williams’ grandfather, after the press conference. “You’ve got one side. It's this one side where somebody is saying, ‘This is the evidence. This is what happened.’ You don't have somebody on the other side that's looking at it objectively to say, ‘Hey, look, well, maybe this happened.’... Wherever there is one side, there's another side to it.”

Miller gave an example of an unrelated incident that occurred where parents were trying to treat their daughter’s serious illness with home remedies and were charged with her death as an example of why he thought Ventura should face consequences for shooting Williams.

“That father and that mother is in jail. It doesn't make any difference what their intentions were,” Miller said. “It didn't make any difference what the thought process was. What made a difference is that this girl is dead, and somebody needs to answer for it.”

The video footage released by SMPD showed Williams had two large shiny objects, one in each of his hands, but due to video quality, it was difficult to make out the exact shape of those objects. Police then showed an image of two large kitchen knives, around a foot long, on the ground. It appeared there were drops of blood on the knives. Standridge showed the video all the way through first and then showed the video and paused at certain points, which highlighted red circles drawn around the shiny object in one hand. He also showed surveillance footage from H-E-B that showed a shiny long object in the other hand. The shiny objects seen in the surveillance video appear similar to the size and shape of the knives shown at the scene, but the quality of the video makes it difficult to verify further.

(Editor’s Note: The Daily Record decided not to print still images of the video due to the limited quality of the video. Due to the method in which a newspaper is printed, the images would be even more difficult to see and may not show the detail needed to inform a reader appropriately.)

The video begins with the initial contact made with Williams. The first 30 seconds of the video do not have audio.

“This is due to the bodyworn camera system. It is always recording, but not audio,” Standridge said. “When the officer activates the camera, it goes back and captures the previous 30 seconds of video but not audio.”

The video shows Williams approaching Ventura inside of the Snax Max, a convenience store located at 704 E. Hopkins Street. When the audio begins, you can hear Ventura tell Williams to put his hands behind his back. Williams responded, “I thought we were cool, bro.”

Standridge said that there were no reports of previous contact between Williams and Ventura, though Williams had contact with other SMPD officers previously.

In the video, the officer continues to repeat the order to put his hands behind his back. Williams said, “Are you going to shoot me?” The officer continues to walk backwards until the two are outside of the convenience store. That is when Williams takes off running toward the KFC, with Ventura and at least one other officer in a foot pursuit behind him. As Williams crosses Cheatham Street, Ventura deploys his first taser, which is unsuccessful.

“One of two things happened: The officer either missed because the probes did not connect with Mr. Williams’ body, or the distance exceeded 25 feet,” Standridge said. “Those taser cartridges only go out 25 feet. If they go any further than that, they'll snap the lead lines, and it's rendered ineffective.”

Williams then runs across Hopkins Street toward Marco's Pizza, and as Ventura crosses the railroad tracks he fires the taser again and is unsuccessful a second time.

“According to the statement, the officer says that Mr. Williams arms himself as he reached the parking lot of Marco’s Pizza, meaning the officer saw that he pulled out both knives, and he put them in one hand, [and the other knife in] one hand,” Standridge said. “He was running with the blades facing toward the pavement and still continued to flee from the officer. At that point, the officer sees that the suspect is now armed, so the officer holsters his taser [and] pulls out his duty firearm. The pursuit continues.”

Miller was skeptical that Williams could pull two large knives out of his pants or jacket pockets while running.

“Get something, put it in your pocket and run with it and see … how you're going to be able to pull those knives out your pockets or out from somewhere next to your body while you're running,” Miller said. “If indeed Malachi had knives and they didn't lay them on the ground later on. And because of the lies I've heard, I have no reason not to believe that they didn't.”

As Ventura entered the H-E-B parking lot, he fired three shots toward Williams. The officer struck him twice in the “rear torso,” according to Standridge. The footage showed Williams stumble then fall behind a vehicle. As the officer comes closer, Williams is visible writhing in pain on the ground. Standridge read from Ventura’s affidavit stating why he made the decision to shoot.

'I was concerned for the safety of the citizens in the parking lot and the grocery store due to the suspect actively running towards that direction with two large knives still in his hands. I was worried that the suspect was going to harm a civilian and that I had to prevent that from occurring,” Standridge read. “The suspect had already committed an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, fled from officers and armed… himself with the knives while running towards the populated parking lot.”

Standridge chose not to show the footage of the officers rendering aid, though he said it was provided within a minute or less of the shots being fired.

“The policy says that when safe to do so, officers shall immediately provide life saving measures. The officers are taught a class called TECC, Tactical Emergency Casualty Care. In this particular case, multiple officers arrived and a fire marshal. Thankfully, the fire marshal was also a certified paramedic, so the paramedic was on scene, literally in a minute or less, and began providing… aid, while the officers then began to assist and then provide scene containment,” Standridge said. “Is there a reason why we're not showing the minutes after the shooting? Absolutely, for sensitivity to the family.”

Miller believed there were ulterior motives for not showing the footage from after Williams was shot.

“Why did you not show the rest of it, the rest of the video in the parking lot, and he said, because they wanted to be ‘sensitive’, and they didn't want the family, didn't want us to have to see that type of stuff. Maybe that's true. Maybe that's what he said,” Miller said. He then questioned whether the police not releasing that portion of the video was to hide the treatment of Williams after he was shot.

Standridge said officers were initially looking for Williams after a caller reported that he was threatened with two knives earlier that evening.

“When officers arrived, they learned there were two victims. Officers learned that the two victims, who were related to each other, had previously been at a nearby convenience store to make purchases and then walk home,” Standridge said. “A male, unknown to them, was also at the store but remained outside. We learned this by reviewing the store's cameras. When the two victims left the store, the suspect followed them, following within three to four feet of them. This caused immediate alarm, and they communicated to each other in Spanish that they believed the suspect was following them. “

Standridge said the men that reported the incident then decided to cross the street and walk past their home, so the suspect would not know where they lived.

“They called another family member inside the home, and he came outside. The suspect was now immediately across the street from them and only one house away from where they live. The suspect then pulled out two large knives and threatened both victims.” Standridge said. “The suspects… told police they feared for their lives. They made the decision to hurriedly cross the street and try to reach the third family member and get inside their home. They were able to get inside.”

Standridge said Ventura was one of the responding officers.

“He then left and searched the area, trying to find the described suspect,” Standridge said. “At 10:35 p.m., the suspect, who we now know as Malachi Williams, arrives back at the same convenience store.”

A video of the full city of San Marcos press conference can be viewed at this link facebook.com/watch/ live/?ref=watch_permalink& v=481729124469834. The body-worn camera footage is shown in the press conference and shows Malachi Williams being shot. It may not be suitable for all viewers.