BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – The defense team representing three former San Antonio police officers called Travis Thompson, its first active officer, to the stand on Tuesday afternoon.
Thompson’s testimony comes after the defense called two former detectives as its first witnesses last Friday and on Monday.
Ex-SAPD officers Eleazar Alejandro, Alfred Flores and Nathaniel Villalobos are on trial for the shooting death of Melissa Perez, 46.
The department has since terminated Alejandro, Flores and Villalobos from the force.
Below is the timeline from Tuesday’s court proceedings.
1:34 p.m. - Ron Rangel, the presiding judge in this case, called the prosecution and the joint defense team for a meeting at his bench.
1:38 p.m. - The brief meeting at Rangel’s bench concluded.
1:55 p.m. - Jurors entered the courtroom.
1:56 p.m. - The joint defense team called SAPD officer Travis Thompson to the stand.
Thompson was one of the 15 officers who responded to Melissa Perez’s apartment on June 23, 2023.
1:57 p.m. - Jason Goss, a co-defense attorney for ex-SAPD officer Nathaniel Villalobos, began direct questioning of Thompson.
Goss also approached Thompson and presented him with a copy of the witness statement he gave following the police shooting of Perez.
2:01 p.m. - Thompson, who went through the SAPD Academy with Villalobos, also shared a patrol vehicle with Villalobos when they arrived at Perez’s apartment complex on June 23, 2023.
2:02 p.m. - Goss played a portion of Villalobos’ body-worn camera video before the court.
The video began at the 1:38 a.m. mark on June 23, 2023, with Villalobos sitting in the patrol vehicle’s passenger seat. Thompson drove the patrol vehicle.
2:03 p.m. - At the 1:39 a.m. mark in the video, more than 20 minutes before the Perez shooting, the court saw Villalobos’ interaction with a man sitting on a bus bench.
2:05 p.m. - Thompson said they went to the bus bench to do a “welfare check” on the man, who admitted to public intoxication and is not connected to the Perez shooting in any way.
2:06 p.m. - More of Villalobos’ interaction with the man played before the court.
At the end of the interaction, both officers asked the man to “stay out of the street” and to “get home” safely before they were notified that an officer was in trouble at Perez’s apartment.
2:08 p.m. - Goss asked Thompson about Villalobos’ interaction with the man in the bodycam video.
“The way that officer Villalobos is dealing with this gentleman (in the video): is that the way that you would typically see him interact with members of our community?” Goss asked Thompson.
“Yes,” Thompson said.
2:11 p.m. - Thompson also said that at no point were he or Villalobos notified that they were responding to a mental health crisis at Perez’s apartment.
2:13 p.m. - A portion of Thompson’s body-worn camera video was played before the court.
The video began playing at the 1:51 a.m. mark. At this point, Thompson and Villalobos had already arrived at Perez’s apartment.
2:16 p.m. - In the video, Thompson was seen walking away from and later returned to a crowd of five officers, including Villalobos, standing by Perez’s apartment patio.
When he returned to the patio area, Thompson saw Villalobos moving Perez’s window screen as she approached Villalobos with a hammer.
“Hey, watch out,” Thompson said to Villalobos as Perez approached in the video. “Hey, V (Villalobos), get up.”
Villalobos stepped backwards and out of harm’s way.
“You’re trespassing,” Perez said to Villalobos, according to the video.
2:17 p.m. - Goss asked Thompson about why he implored Villalobos to watch out.
“She had already assaulted an officer,” Thompson said of Perez, referring to her injuring fellow SAPD officer Jonathan Salinas. “It was my belief that she would do it again.”
2:23 p.m. - If any suspect wielded a hammer at Thompson, he said he would respond with lethal force.
“Because it’s (hammer) a deadly weapon,” Thompson told the court.
2:25 p.m. - Beginning at the 1:52 a.m. mark, more of Thompson’s body-worn camera video was played before the court.
2:41 p.m. - At the 1:58 a.m. mark in the video, Thompson was seen resting his arms over the gate of Perez’s apartment patio.
Jurors heard a snippet of Thompson’s interaction with Perez.
“So, I’m asking you to come out and talk with us peacefully, OK?” Thompson said to Perez.
“I don’t need to talk to somebody who’s tearing my door down and harassing me,” Perez said.
“Well, I didn’t tear your door down,” Thompson said.
Perez told Thompson that SAPD needed a warrant to enter her home.
“I don’t need one,” Thompson said to Perez. “I’ve already explained that to you.”
“I am explaining to you: you need a warrant,” Perez responded.
“OK. Well, we’ll see what the judge has to say about it,” Thompson said.
“We’ll see,” Perez said. “We’ll see.”
2:44 p.m. - Thompson said his attempts to de-escalate the situation with Perez were unsuccessful.
2:59 p.m. - After Perez was shot, Thompson explained to the court why he handcuffed her.
“Like I said, she could still potentially be a threat,” Thompson said. “So, we always handcuff them in order for us to provide first aid or whatever else we’re going to do.”
3:02 p.m. - Goss passed the witness. Rangel instituted a short break.
3:14 p.m. - Jurors reentered the courtroom.
Bexar County co-prosecutor David Lunan began cross-examining Thompson.
“Before we broke, Mr. (Jason) Goss had asked you if you had done everything possible to preserve her (Perez’s) life after she was shot. You remember him asking you that?” Lunan asked Thompson.
“Yes, sir,” Thompson said.
3:15 p.m. - Lunan then asked Thompson if he and SAPD did everything to save Perez’s life “before” she was shot.
“Yes,” Thompson said.
“You believe that?” Lunan asked Thompson.
“Yes, sir,” Thompson said.
3:16 p.m. - Thompson agreed with Lunan’s assertion that it is “a higher offense to cause the death of someone than simply to threat them with serious bodily injury or death.”
3:20 p.m. - Thompson said Perez charged at officers “multiple times” in his presence.
“But you said you didn’t see the hammer?” Lunan asked Thompson.
“She did,” Thompson said. “She had the hammer.”
“Did you saw a few minutes ago that you did not see the hammer?” Lunan asked.
“Correct. Yes, sir,” Thompson said. “Whenever — yes, sir.”
“Right?” Lunan asked.
“Yes, sir,” Thompson said.
“I’m just trying to get clear on what you said. That’s what you said, right?” Lunan asked.
“Yes, sir,” Thompson said.
Goss objected to Lunan’s question. He argued that Thompson heard Maria Salinas say that Perez charged at SAPD with a hammer.
“That doesn’t mean he (Thompson) observed it, Your Honor,” Lunan told the court.
3:30 p.m. - When potential non-lethal plans to enter Perez’s apartment were being discussed, Thompson suggested that officers “tase her” through a window.
3:54 p.m. - Mario Del Prado, a co-defense attorney for ex-SAPD officer Eleazar Alejandro, asked Rangel if the defense and the prosecution could approach the bench.
4:02 p.m. - The meeting at Rangel’s bench concluded.
4:08 p.m. - Lunan passed the witness. Rangel instituted a short break.
Jurors left the courtroom.
4:21 p.m. - Jurors reentered the courtroom.
Ben Sifuentes, a co-defense attorney for ex-SAPD officer Eleazar Alejandro, began cross-examining Thompson.
4:23 p.m. - Sifuentes began playing Thompson’s body-worn camera video frame-by-frame before the court, beginning at the 2:02 a.m. mark.
4:28 p.m. - Sifuentes began playing SAPD officer Vince Gomez’s body-worn camera video.
Thompson was seen on the far left of Gomez’s body camera.
4:33 p.m. - In the video, Thompson was seen moving backwards and covering his face as Perez approached.
4:34 p.m. - “At the moment, I would say, ‘Yes,’” Thompson told Sifuentes when asked if he was afraid in the moment.
“And why is that?” Sifuentes asked.
“Because I didn’t want to get hit with a hammer,” Thompson said. “Or anything else.”
“And, if you were hit with a hammer, what would that cause?” Sifuentes asked.
“Bodily injury,” Thompson said.
4:39 p.m. - Sifuentes played portions of Alejandro’s body-worn camera, beginning at the 1:34 a.m. mark on June 23, 2023 — before he responded to Perez’s apartment.
5:05 p.m. - Sifuentes passed the witness to Christian Neumann, a co-defense attorney for ex-SAPD Sgt. Alfred Flores.
5:18 p.m. - “You and all the other officers on scene provided her (Perez) with options to avoid force, right?” Neumann asked Thompson.
“Yes, sir,” Thompson said.
5:19 p.m. - Perez, according to Neumann’s assertion, turned all those options down.
Thompson agreed with Neumann’s assertion.
“The roles of society are that, when police are lawfully trying to arrest you, you must listen and then fight it out in court if you disagree, right?” Neumann asked Thompson.
“Correct,” Thompson said.
Neumann passed the witness. The joint defense team had no further questions for Thompson.
Moments after Rangel excused Thompson from the stand, Lunan asked the court if it could cross-examine Thompson again.
Rangel asked the prosecution and the defense to approach his bench for a brief meeting.
5:23 p.m. - Rangel reinstalled Thompson on the witness stand.
Instead of the prosecution, Goss questioned Thompson again.
5:34 p.m. - Goss passed the witness to Lunan.
5:41 p.m. - Lunan asked Thompson about where a “disagreement” between the officer and the state originated.
5:42 p.m. - “So, I had knowledge that she (Perez) had committed the criminal mischief,” Thompson told the court. “And, from my understanding at the time, was that they (officers) tried to arrest her, she went into her apartment, but they (officers) couldn’t get in and then that’s when she assaulted an officer.”
“Right, but you didn’t know that (SAPD officer Jesus) Rojas had said, ‘You’re not under arrest’ (to Perez)?” Lunan asked Thompson.
“I did not. No, sir,” Thompson responded.
Lunan then alleged that the first few responding officers, including Rojas, had “closed the case and left the scene.” Goss objected to Lunan’s assertion.
“They (the officers) didn’t close the case, and honestly, they did detain her,” Goss said, in part.
Rangel sustained Goss’ objection.
5:43 p.m. - Upon his arrival, Thompson told the court that he was informed about Perez cutting fire alarm wires that first prompted a 911 call to her apartment complex.
Lunan passed the witness. The defense had no further questions for Thompson.
Rangel officially excused Thompson from the stand.
5:44 p.m. - Rangel ended court proceedings from the day. The trial is expected to resume on Wednesday afternoon.
Background
On June 23, 2023, Melissa Perez, 46, experienced a mental health crisis inside her Southwest Side apartment, where SAPD body camera footage showed she was fatally shot by ex-SAPD officers Eleazar Alejandro, Alfred Flores and Nathaniel Villalobos.
The case drew widespread attention and sparked debate over police response protocols.
Alejandro, Flores and Villalobos each face charges in connection with Perez’s death.
All three charged will be tried together, making for a packed courtroom.
Former prosecutor-turned-defense attorney Meredith Chacon said the plan to try all three together means each defense team has agreed on some kind of joint strategy.
“It indicates a sharing of resources, and they’re all working together on this defense,” Chacon said.
Each defendant has their own team of lawyers:
- Alfred Flores is represented by Thom Nisbet, Christian Neumann and David Christian.
- Eleazar Alejandro is represented by Ben Sifuentes and Mario Del Prado, a former division chief in the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.
- Nathaniel Villalobos is represented by former Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood and his law partners Jay Norton, Jason Goss and Patrick Ballantyne.
As for the state, prosecutors include Felony Criminal Trial Division Chief David Lunan and Daryl Harris.
The trial is being presided over by Judge Ron Rangel of the 379th Criminal District Court.
Ahead of jury selection, a pretrial hearing became heated as attorneys sparred over key issues. Defense attorneys argued with prosecutors over which evidence and legal arguments should be allowed during the proceedings.
Among the issues discussed was a federal judge’s recent decision to dismiss a civil lawsuit against the officers — a ruling the defense wants jurors to hear about. Prosecutors opposed that motion.
Defense attorneys also objected to any discussion of the Castle Doctrine, or “protection of property” laws, during the trial. They argued it is irrelevant to the facts of the case.
Rangel has yet to rule on those motions.
If convicted, Flores and Alejandro each face up to life in prison. Villalobos, who is facing an aggravated assault by a public servant charge, also faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
For a full look back at this case, watch the KSAT Open Court video below:
More coverage of this trial on KSAT: