Get TPR's best stories of the day and a jump start to the weekend with the 321 Newsletter — straight to your inbox every day. Sign up for it here.
For the second time in less than a week, a San Antonio police officer was shot and wounded.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said officers in the Street Crimes Unit were tracking a man wanted on multiple felony warrants on the I-10 access road at New Braunfels Avenue on Wednesday afternoon.
The 40-year-old suspect crashed into one of the patrol units and another car. He then got out and started shooting at police and other drivers on the highway main lanes while trying to carjack them.
The incident led to a stretch of I-10 being shut down for hours as police investigated.
Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales said in a statement Wednesday evening that the suspect was Michael Kirkland.
One officer was wounded before police shot and killed the suspect. The officer was transported to an area hospital for treatment.
McManus voiced his frustration that multiple charges against the suspect were dismissed in the last year.
"I remain concerned about people who are on the street, who should be in jail because they are habitual offenders," he told reporters. "Especially the violent crime habitual offenders — which this individual was."
Gonzales addressed the police chief's concerns in a statement on Wednesday night. He said the DA's office has to be able to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt.
"I have now looked at six or seven cases again since the year that I came into office," he explained, "and almost, without exception, in every one of those cases we were unable to go forward because we either had a missing witness, or a missing complainant or victim, or a complainant or victim that was uncooperative and was not willing to come to court to testify."
Gonzales said that was the situation in numerous cases against Kirkland.
