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Copyright 2003 San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Express-News
January 5, 2003, Sunday , METRO
Correction Appended
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 2020 words
HEADLINE: How could it happen? ; Police cadets are trained to protect their guns ; A parolee not believed violent took weapons from two officers and shot four before a wounded rookie won the life-and-death struggle
BYLINE: John Tedesco
BODY: Instructors at the San Antonio police academy preach about the dangers of people like Jamie Lichtenwalter.
A brawny bouncer and convicted felon, Lichtenwalter was the type of attacker cadets are lectured about, a violent man who could grab an officer's gun and turn it against police.
Early Friday morning, Lichtenwalter was no abstract assailant. After an argument with his ex-girlfriend at a Northeast Side restaurant, he fought a San Antonio police detective and three officers.
In less than five minutes, the policemen were nearly killed with their own .40-caliber Glock pistols in a nightmarish firefight that Police Chief Albert Ortiz compared to the OK Corral. For one man to brutalize four policemen and successfully disarm two officers seems unbelievable, especially to the department's own.
Police cadets practice protecting their firearms, and officers are issued holsters with multiple safety locks.
"If you had told me before today that something like this could happen in San Antonio, I wouldn't have believed it," said Rene Rodriguez, president of the police union.
The San Antonio Police Department announced it plans to review its training procedures, even as police officials defended the program.
"That's a very big part of police training, gun retention," said Sgt. Gabriel Trevino, a police spokesman. "It's extremely important."
Police say Lichtenwalter shot Officer Nathan Murray in the cheek, with the bullet exiting through Murray's jaw. Officer David Evans was shot in the arm, stomach and chest. Detective John Bocko was grazed by a bullet and severely beaten. And Officer Michael Muniz suffered bullet wounds to his neck, chest, buttock and thigh.
Lichtenwalter finally was killed in an exchange of desperate, close-range gunfire with Muniz, who had graduated from the police academy five months ago.
Trevino said he wasn't going to play "Monday morning quarterback" and second-guess the actions of the four policemen, nor would his public information office allow the San Antonio Express-News to interview personnel at the department's training academy.
Trevino said the newspaper was creating controversy by asking questions about how the department's training program works and how the violent circumstances unfolded Friday morning.
What is clear from the police version of events is four officers walked into a deadly situation for which they had spent countless hours training, and they almost didn't survive.
A violent struggle
Like most police calls, the situation early Friday looked routine on the surface.
Evans, 51, and Bocko, 34, arrived at a Denny's on Northeast Loop 410 where Lichtenwalter had been arguing with his girlfriend and another man.
They could tell Lichtenwalter, 26, liked to lift weights. They didn't know about his rap sheet.
In March 1993, when he was 16, Lichtenwalter opened fire on a group of teenagers standing outside a food mart in Universal City. A bullet lodged in the base of the skull of Edward Lee Escobedo, 18, who was paralyzed and died several years later.
Lichtenwalter was convicted of attempted murder and given a 12-year sentence. He was released on parole in July 2001, after serving seven years in prison.
Lichtenwalter got jobs as a bouncer at local topless bars and in March began dating a performer, Julie Housos, 20, of New Braunfels.
Early Friday morning, Lichtenwalter was in the parking lot at Far West Rodeo, keeping tabs on his on-again, off-again girlfriend. She walked out with a female friend and another man.
Jealous, Lichtenwalter trailed them when they drove off, but he lost them in traffic. He called Housos on her cell phone, saying he lost the keys to his parents' house, where he lived, and told her to come see him.
When she arrived, Lichtenwalter brandished a shotgun and demanded to see the man from the country-western club. She drove him to the Denny's on Loop 410. Lichtenwalter left the shotgun in the car and walked into the restaurant with Housos to confront the stranger.
She asked the Denny's manager to call police, who were dispatched at 3:30 a.m. Three minutes later, Bocko and Evans arrived.
Domestic disputes are among the most dangerous calls officers respond to. Although the setting was a restaurant and the couple wasn't married, emotions can still run high.
"Preservation of the peace in family disturbances is perhaps the most sensitive area of law enforcement and presents the greatest challenge and risk to officers," states the department's procedure manual, which has six pages devoted to domestic disputes.
"To be effective, officers must not only be cautious, but also be firm in their actions and courteous as well as tactful in their manner," according to the manual.
A surveillance video in the restaurant shows Bocko entering the diner, followed by Evans about a minute later, according to police.
"The suspect greets Evans at the door," Trevino said. "You know, like, 'Hey, what's going on?' It looks like they talk to each other for a minute."
They walk out of the camera's view. According to the police chronology of events, Bocko and Evans appeared to defuse the quarrel within minutes in the restaurant.
Appearing calm, Lichtenwalter handed over the car keys and officers allowed him to leave.
As he turned to go, Housos whispered that her boyfriend might have a gun.
Suddenly, Lichtenwalter spun and hit Bocko, who fell to the ground with a broken jaw. The bodybuilder pounced on Evans and the two men struggled near the restaurant's cash register, within view of the security camera.
The video shows Lichtenwalter subduing Evans, who joined the force in December 1977 and until recently had been assigned to the department's traffic control unit.
Lichtenwalter appears to grab Evans' gun, stand over the grounded officer and shoot him at least three times with the Glock pistol, Trevino said. Lichtenwalter turns and fires shots across the restaurant, apparently at Bocko.
An officer-in-trouble call went out at 3:36 a.m., three minutes after Bocko and Evans arrived.
Holsters and training
Police said the security video does not reveal whether Evans had pulled his gun or if Lichtenwalter managed to grab it from the officer's holster.
Such situations can quickly turn deadly, and San Antonio officers are trained to deal with assailants who grab their weapon.
In the academy, each cadet must hold off colleagues who attempt to snatch a holstered firearm. Such drills have been staged for at least 15 years, Trevino said, and weapon retention is periodically taught in annual refresher courses that all police officers are required to attend.
The Police Department requires applicants to pass physical tests to become cadets. For example, under the current standards men younger than 29 must be able to do 26 push-ups within a minute.
"Those standards are just to get you (into the academy)," said Jerry Clancy, a retired president of the police union who believes training requirements have grown more stringent over the years. "After you're there, you have to do a hell of a lot more."
Once on the force, officers are encouraged - but not required - to maintain good physical condition.
Rodriguez said a proposed union contract with the city includes a clause that offers 3-5 days of administrative leave to officers if they pass fitness tests.
Despite Evans' age, Rodriguez said, the stocky officer was no slouch.
"David Evans is actually a pretty tough cookie," Rodriguez said. "He's 51 years old, but David is one heck of a police officer. He's a pretty big guy, and he has a good way with people."
The department issues modern police holsters that have evolved beyond the simple one-button strap that keeps firearms in place.
The holsters have special locking mechanisms and straps that require training to operate. Different models are available from the maker, Safariland Ltd., including the new Raptor style that is billed by the company as "the safest holster ever made."
The Police Department uses "Level III" holsters, which means three steps must be taken to remove the firearm. With practice, an officer can learn to quickly draw the weapon. The gun locks into place as soon as the officer re-holsters it.
But while many police departments use modern holsters, they aren't foolproof, and other jurisdictions rely on simpler holsters that are easier to foil. Experts say losing a gun to an attacker is still all too common.
"It happens a lot," said Deputy Chief Craig Campbell, who oversees the curriculum for the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement in Austin. "We have over 60,000 peace officers in Texas. If they're all carrying guns and they're talking to people every day, the potential's always there."
Lichtenwalter fired at Evans at close range. The officer was shot in the arm, stomach and right chest.
Department procedures recommend but don't require officers to wear bulletproof vests. Evans had opted not to wear his.
Other victims
A stunned Bocko had gotten up and begun wandering the restaurant in a daze. Police say Lichtenwalter emptied the rest of his clip shooting at Bocko, then beat and pistol-whipped the detective, incapacitating him, as Evans stumbled outside to get help.
In the parking lot, backup officers Murray and Muniz encountered Evans and tended to him, while inside Lichtenwalter was probably grabbing Bocko's weapon, police say.
"You definitely want to make a clear threat assessment first," Rodriguez said of the officers who arrived later. "You can sit there and say you should do this, this and this first. Fact of the matter is, they saw their fellow officer hurt. I don't see how anybody could hold that against them."
The restaurant video shows Lichtenwalter's girlfriend running outside, followed quickly by the man who was with her.
A firefight erupted in the parking lot. Both backup officers were hit - Murray in the face, Muniz in the neck, chest, buttock and thigh.
Muniz, a rookie, pulled his Glock and exchanged fire with Lichtenwalter, who was only a few feet away. The gunman collapsed on top of Muniz, who was too weak from his injuries to move. Lichtenwalter died there.
With empty shells and casualties scattered on the ground, the parking lot looked like a small war zone.
Chief Ortiz described the fight as an ambush by an attacker whom officers "weren't quite prepared" to deal with. Police instructors will review the Denny's security video to review the academy's policies, Ortiz said.
In hindsight, will it be a video that teaches officers what not to do?
Rodriguez, the union president, saw one lesson in the carnage: The officer who stopped the violent gunman was Muniz, a rookie who had only his guts and training to guide him.
"With his lack of experience, the training that was freshly engraved in his mind had to kick in," Rodriguez said.
San Antonio Express-News
January 5, 2003, Sunday , METRO
Correction Appended
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 2020 words
HEADLINE: How could it happen? ; Police cadets are trained to protect their guns ; A parolee not believed violent took weapons from two officers and shot four before a wounded rookie won the life-and-death struggle
BYLINE: John Tedesco
BODY: Instructors at the San Antonio police academy preach about the dangers of people like Jamie Lichtenwalter.
A brawny bouncer and convicted felon, Lichtenwalter was the type of attacker cadets are lectured about, a violent man who could grab an officer's gun and turn it against police.
Early Friday morning, Lichtenwalter was no abstract assailant. After an argument with his ex-girlfriend at a Northeast Side restaurant, he fought a San Antonio police detective and three officers.
In less than five minutes, the policemen were nearly killed with their own .40-caliber Glock pistols in a nightmarish firefight that Police Chief Albert Ortiz compared to the OK Corral. For one man to brutalize four policemen and successfully disarm two officers seems unbelievable, especially to the department's own.
Police cadets practice protecting their firearms, and officers are issued holsters with multiple safety locks.
"If you had told me before today that something like this could happen in San Antonio, I wouldn't have believed it," said Rene Rodriguez, president of the police union.
The San Antonio Police Department announced it plans to review its training procedures, even as police officials defended the program.
"That's a very big part of police training, gun retention," said Sgt. Gabriel Trevino, a police spokesman. "It's extremely important."
Police say Lichtenwalter shot Officer Nathan Murray in the cheek, with the bullet exiting through Murray's jaw. Officer David Evans was shot in the arm, stomach and chest. Detective John Bocko was grazed by a bullet and severely beaten. And Officer Michael Muniz suffered bullet wounds to his neck, chest, buttock and thigh.
Lichtenwalter finally was killed in an exchange of desperate, close-range gunfire with Muniz, who had graduated from the police academy five months ago.
Trevino said he wasn't going to play "Monday morning quarterback" and second-guess the actions of the four policemen, nor would his public information office allow the San Antonio Express-News to interview personnel at the department's training academy.
Trevino said the newspaper was creating controversy by asking questions about how the department's training program works and how the violent circumstances unfolded Friday morning.
What is clear from the police version of events is four officers walked into a deadly situation for which they had spent countless hours training, and they almost didn't survive.
A violent struggle
Like most police calls, the situation early Friday looked routine on the surface.
Evans, 51, and Bocko, 34, arrived at a Denny's on Northeast Loop 410 where Lichtenwalter had been arguing with his girlfriend and another man.
They could tell Lichtenwalter, 26, liked to lift weights. They didn't know about his rap sheet.
In March 1993, when he was 16, Lichtenwalter opened fire on a group of teenagers standing outside a food mart in Universal City. A bullet lodged in the base of the skull of Edward Lee Escobedo, 18, who was paralyzed and died several years later.
Lichtenwalter was convicted of attempted murder and given a 12-year sentence. He was released on parole in July 2001, after serving seven years in prison.
Lichtenwalter got jobs as a bouncer at local topless bars and in March began dating a performer, Julie Housos, 20, of New Braunfels.
Early Friday morning, Lichtenwalter was in the parking lot at Far West Rodeo, keeping tabs on his on-again, off-again girlfriend. She walked out with a female friend and another man.
Jealous, Lichtenwalter trailed them when they drove off, but he lost them in traffic. He called Housos on her cell phone, saying he lost the keys to his parents' house, where he lived, and told her to come see him.
When she arrived, Lichtenwalter brandished a shotgun and demanded to see the man from the country-western club. She drove him to the Denny's on Loop 410. Lichtenwalter left the shotgun in the car and walked into the restaurant with Housos to confront the stranger.
She asked the Denny's manager to call police, who were dispatched at 3:30 a.m. Three minutes later, Bocko and Evans arrived.
Domestic disputes are among the most dangerous calls officers respond to. Although the setting was a restaurant and the couple wasn't married, emotions can still run high.
"Preservation of the peace in family disturbances is perhaps the most sensitive area of law enforcement and presents the greatest challenge and risk to officers," states the department's procedure manual, which has six pages devoted to domestic disputes.
"To be effective, officers must not only be cautious, but also be firm in their actions and courteous as well as tactful in their manner," according to the manual.
A surveillance video in the restaurant shows Bocko entering the diner, followed by Evans about a minute later, according to police.
"The suspect greets Evans at the door," Trevino said. "You know, like, 'Hey, what's going on?' It looks like they talk to each other for a minute."
They walk out of the camera's view. According to the police chronology of events, Bocko and Evans appeared to defuse the quarrel within minutes in the restaurant.
Appearing calm, Lichtenwalter handed over the car keys and officers allowed him to leave.
As he turned to go, Housos whispered that her boyfriend might have a gun.
Suddenly, Lichtenwalter spun and hit Bocko, who fell to the ground with a broken jaw. The bodybuilder pounced on Evans and the two men struggled near the restaurant's cash register, within view of the security camera.
The video shows Lichtenwalter subduing Evans, who joined the force in December 1977 and until recently had been assigned to the department's traffic control unit.
Lichtenwalter appears to grab Evans' gun, stand over the grounded officer and shoot him at least three times with the Glock pistol, Trevino said. Lichtenwalter turns and fires shots across the restaurant, apparently at Bocko.
An officer-in-trouble call went out at 3:36 a.m., three minutes after Bocko and Evans arrived.
Holsters and training
Police said the security video does not reveal whether Evans had pulled his gun or if Lichtenwalter managed to grab it from the officer's holster.
Such situations can quickly turn deadly, and San Antonio officers are trained to deal with assailants who grab their weapon.
In the academy, each cadet must hold off colleagues who attempt to snatch a holstered firearm. Such drills have been staged for at least 15 years, Trevino said, and weapon retention is periodically taught in annual refresher courses that all police officers are required to attend.
The Police Department requires applicants to pass physical tests to become cadets. For example, under the current standards men younger than 29 must be able to do 26 push-ups within a minute.
"Those standards are just to get you (into the academy)," said Jerry Clancy, a retired president of the police union who believes training requirements have grown more stringent over the years. "After you're there, you have to do a hell of a lot more."
Once on the force, officers are encouraged - but not required - to maintain good physical condition.
Rodriguez said a proposed union contract with the city includes a clause that offers 3-5 days of administrative leave to officers if they pass fitness tests.
Despite Evans' age, Rodriguez said, the stocky officer was no slouch.
"David Evans is actually a pretty tough cookie," Rodriguez said. "He's 51 years old, but David is one heck of a police officer. He's a pretty big guy, and he has a good way with people."
The department issues modern police holsters that have evolved beyond the simple one-button strap that keeps firearms in place.
The holsters have special locking mechanisms and straps that require training to operate. Different models are available from the maker, Safariland Ltd., including the new Raptor style that is billed by the company as "the safest holster ever made."
The Police Department uses "Level III" holsters, which means three steps must be taken to remove the firearm. With practice, an officer can learn to quickly draw the weapon. The gun locks into place as soon as the officer re-holsters it.
But while many police departments use modern holsters, they aren't foolproof, and other jurisdictions rely on simpler holsters that are easier to foil. Experts say losing a gun to an attacker is still all too common.
"It happens a lot," said Deputy Chief Craig Campbell, who oversees the curriculum for the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement in Austin. "We have over 60,000 peace officers in Texas. If they're all carrying guns and they're talking to people every day, the potential's always there."
Lichtenwalter fired at Evans at close range. The officer was shot in the arm, stomach and right chest.
Department procedures recommend but don't require officers to wear bulletproof vests. Evans had opted not to wear his.
Other victims
A stunned Bocko had gotten up and begun wandering the restaurant in a daze. Police say Lichtenwalter emptied the rest of his clip shooting at Bocko, then beat and pistol-whipped the detective, incapacitating him, as Evans stumbled outside to get help.
In the parking lot, backup officers Murray and Muniz encountered Evans and tended to him, while inside Lichtenwalter was probably grabbing Bocko's weapon, police say.
"You definitely want to make a clear threat assessment first," Rodriguez said of the officers who arrived later. "You can sit there and say you should do this, this and this first. Fact of the matter is, they saw their fellow officer hurt. I don't see how anybody could hold that against them."
The restaurant video shows Lichtenwalter's girlfriend running outside, followed quickly by the man who was with her.
A firefight erupted in the parking lot. Both backup officers were hit - Murray in the face, Muniz in the neck, chest, buttock and thigh.
Muniz, a rookie, pulled his Glock and exchanged fire with Lichtenwalter, who was only a few feet away. The gunman collapsed on top of Muniz, who was too weak from his injuries to move. Lichtenwalter died there.
With empty shells and casualties scattered on the ground, the parking lot looked like a small war zone.
Chief Ortiz described the fight as an ambush by an attacker whom officers "weren't quite prepared" to deal with. Police instructors will review the Denny's security video to review the academy's policies, Ortiz said.
In hindsight, will it be a video that teaches officers what not to do?
Rodriguez, the union president, saw one lesson in the carnage: The officer who stopped the violent gunman was Muniz, a rookie who had only his guts and training to guide him.
"With his lack of experience, the training that was freshly engraved in his mind had to kick in," Rodriguez said.