Scott Bonn will discuss the myths and misrepresentations that surround serial killers. Credit: Shutterstock / Prath

More San Antonio Police Department personnel have been punished over the death of Melissa Perez, a woman shot by officers last summer as she suffered a mental health crisis at her South Side apartment complex.

A lieutenant has been fired and a sergeant slapped with a seven-day suspension after each left their shifts early on June 22, prior to the incident in which three SAPD officers opened fire on Perez, killing her inside her apartment, KSAT reports, citing disciplinary records.

Lt. Steven Velasquez, a 30-year veteran of the force, picked up an indefinite suspension last month after an internal affairs probe found that he left work around 10 p.m. that night, some four hours before he was authorized to do so, according to KSAT. What’s more, he didn’t respond to the fatal shooting even though he was the patrol area’s highest-ranking officer, displinary records also show.

Meanwhile, Sgt. Paul Rodriguez, a 22-year SAPD veteran, received his suspension after investigators discovered that he ended his shift 45 minutes early that same night, according to KSAT.

Perez’s shooting took place at 2 a.m.

Velasquez’s attorney, Ben Sifuentes, told KSAT that Rodriguez relieved his client of duty that night, something allowed under police rules. Velasquez has filed to appeal his firing, the station reports, citing city records.

“SAPD has a past practice of more than 30 years of permitting a supervisor to leave early on his or her ‘Friday,’ at shift change if he is properly relieved by a supervisor,” Sifuentes told the station. “There is no proof that [Velasquez] violated any rule or procedure.”

Last month, a grand jury indicted three former San Antonio police officers in Perez’s death.

Officer Eleazar Alejandro and Sgt. Alfred Flores both face charges of first-degree murder, while officer Nathaniel Villalobos faces a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. All three officers were terminated from the force in the wake of the shooting.

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San Antonio police personnel fired, suspended over Melissa Perez death

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