Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales speaks to a crowd of 300 people at a public safety town hall. Credit: Michael Karlis

After publicly feuding over a spate of recent shootings of SAPD officers, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales used a Monday night appearance to emphasize that he and San Antonio Police Chief McManus are making amends.

The comments came during a public safety town hall moderated by District 4 Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia that featured both Gonzales and McManus. After five officers were shot and injured in recent weeks — some by suspects out on bond — McManus blamed Gonzales for letting violent offenders go free on bail. In turn, the DA blasted SAPD for failing to gather enough evidence to lock up habitual criminals.

Gonzales told the crowd of 300 people gathered at the West Side’s St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church that he, like McManus, is frustrated by the recent shootings. However, he explained that he and the chief — who hadn’t spoken in more than a month — both believe the only way to tackle the problem “is if we work together.”

Gonzales then stood, walked to McManus and shook his hand. During the exchange, the chief remained seated with a stern look on his face.

Despite extending an olive branch to the chief, Gonzales maintained that his office isn’t at fault for the shootings. Instead, he blamed the state’s open-carry firearms laws for a surge in violent crime.

“What we are seeing is that people are having access to guns who have no business carrying guns,” Gonzales said. “People who have mental health issues, people that have criminal histories, people who are involved in relationships who have victimized their significant other in domestic violence situations — all those people have access to guns.”

During his speaking time, McManus didn’t mention the public spat with Gonzales. Instead, he focused on explaining specifics of SAPD’s $621.1 million budget proposal, the largest in the department’s history. City council will vote Thursday whether to approve that outlay.

At the meeting, Gonzales also stressed that magistrate judges, not his office, set bond for people who are arrested — a reality of the system also emphasized by legal experts.

“There is a common misconception out there that if somebody is released, especially if they are released immediately, it’s because the DA’s office or the DA himself has released that individual,” Gonzales said. “The reality is that the magistrate judges set the bonds. We can recommend bonds, and we often do.”

Further, Gonzales said he doesn’t advocate taking guns from law-abiding citizens as a solution to curbing violent crime.

“We need to figure out a better way to take handguns away from people that don’t have any business with guns,” he added.

In recent years, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature has passed a slew of bills watering down gun restrictions in the state. In 2021, lawmakers passed an extension to Texas’ open-carry rules allowing most adult Texans to carry firearms in public spaces without a license, safety training or a background check.

Gonzales’ concerns about Texas’ lax firearms laws echo those of U.S. Congressman Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, who last week blamed Republican lawmakers for the recent shootings of SAPD officers.

“Law enforcement officers and the public are paying the price for this recklessness,” Castro said in a statement.

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This article appears in Sep 6-19, 2023.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...