f/u story
Relatives of a man who wounded two police officers Monday and later killed himself, apologized Tuesday for his actions.
"Our hearts go out to the police officers; I hope they're all right," said Alex Vargas of the officers who were shot as they tried to arrest his brother Andres Vargas on a domestic violence warrant.
Vargas' relatives had returned to the house in the 3100 block of Redstart Drive on Tuesday morning as they tried to make sense of the events.
The shootings of the officers, including a rookie just one month out of the police academy, sparked a six-hour standoff that ended early Tuesday when Andres Vargas turned the gun on himself. His body was found on the second floor of his house shortly after 1 a.m.
Police were unclear about when he shot himself, but said they heard a gunshot when tear gas was deployed around midnight.
As of 8:30 Tuesday morning, crime scene teams still had not entered the home, in part to allow lingering tear gas to dissipate.
The standoff by Vargas — a recently divorced man who last week tried to fire a gun at his ex-wife, according to police and the man’s family — prompted police to cordon off the home, warn neighbors to remain in their homes and block access to much of the neighborhood south of Loop 410 and near Texas 16.
Officer Brandy Roell, 30, who completed her cadet training Aug. 8, was airlifted to University Hospital with a gunshot wound to the back that exited her lower abdomen.
Officer Lawrence Robarts, 30, an eight-year veteran on the force, was shot in the right arm, knee and lower leg and was transported to Wilford Hall Medical Center.
Officer Samuel Sedillo, an eight-year veteran, also was at the scene to serve the warrant but was not injured.
Both officers were coherent, able to speak to their families and undergoing surgery Monday night. Late Monday, their condition had been upgraded to stable — a development that Police Chief William McManus said caused him to breathe “a sigh of relief.”
Police said the officers were inside the home and going up the stairs to make the arrest when the man fired at them from somewhere on the second floor.
Robarts tumbled backward but managed to drag himself out the home’s back door, where he collapsed in the yard. Roell, however, lay injured near the staircase, all as the shooter continued firing from above.
“It was like a movie scene,” said a police source who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to discuss the incident.
Amid the gunfire, police said an officer with the Tactical Response Unit, Pedro Garcia, rushed into the home. Holding his assault rifle with one hand and shooting it "like a pistol," Garcia grabbed Roell with his other hand and carried her out to a patrol car. Other officers, meanwhile, returned fire at the gunman, who continued shooting. Two more officers went to the backyard and attended to Robarts, who had to be lifted over two fences to reach an ambulance.
The shooting came just hours after another San Antonio Police officer, Jeremy Swindells, was shot in the leg as he tried to arrest a burglary suspect in an unrelated incident. Speaking to reporters at the scene, McManus underscored the day’s gravity.
“This is the third police shooting we’ve had this day,” McManus said, releasing few details about the incident because it is still ongoing. “It’s a dangerous job. The officers know that.”
The violent assault was a reminder of the last time multiple police officers were shot on the same day in San Antonio, when ex-con Jamie Lichtenwalter shot four policemen at a Denny’s restaurant in 2003. Though Monday’s attack involved few officers, it happened just as quickly, and like Lichtenwalter, the shooter’s rampage appeared to be set off by relationship trouble.
Earlier, police had declined to identify the man because he has not been charged. But family members, who clustered behind the police tape, hugging each other and holding hands, identified Vargas, 43, who was an independent general contractor. Bexar County property records also list the residence as belonging to Vargas.
Around 1 a.m. Tuesday, a police sergeant arrived at the ambulance where Vargas' mother was waiting for word on her son. Earlier, an officer told some family members to prepare for one of two outcomes: Vargas' capture or his possible death.
Other family members crowded into the vehicle and were told of Vargas' death. One man could be seen aggressively standing up inside the vehicle, but quickly sat down at another family member's urging.
Afterward, as family members consoled each with hugs and tears, Alex Vargas leaned on a car as he made a phone call.
"He said he wouldn't ... kill himself," said Albert, another of Vargas' brothers, as he cried.
Vargas’ family, his neighbors and police sources said the shooting was a tragic encore to an incident last weekend when the gunman first aimed an AK-47 at his ex-wife and some family members.
“This whole thing is about the divorce,” said Alex Vargas, his brother. “He wanted his wife back.”
Vargas married in 1983, court records show, and the couple had three children. But last year, after telling family members about her unhappiness in the marriage, they said she filed for divorce. It was finalized three weeks ago.
Vargas was devastated, said his brother, who described him as a hard-working man dedicated to his family. Even though he and his wife sometimes quarreled, particularly over how to raise their children, the brother said Vargas loved her.
But Saturday, the family said he arrived at a vacant lot his ex-wife had recently purchased next to her tax business near the corner of Gillette Boulevard and Lytle Avenue. She and her family had been there all day, mowing the lawn and hauling away trash.
Pulling up in his truck, he got out and pointed what his family said was an AK-47 at the group. The assault rifle jammed.
“It was all, ‘click, click, click,’.” said Jesse Apolinar, the ex-wife’s brother.
Vargas fled before police arrived. They later obtained an arrest warrant for him and were at his home Monday, police said, to arrest him in connection with that crime.
Though the house had remained silent for hours, despite police negotiators' attempts to contact Vargas, his family members sent a taped message, urging him to surrender.
“We told him we want him to come out, we want him to give up ... We love him and that everybody is waiting for him to come out,” Alex Vargas said.
Vargas never did.
