Texas’s Jesse Garcia Jr. shoots 2 San Antonio police officers; Bonds set at $4.33 million

Jesse Garcia Jr., 28, of Texas, United States has a criminal record stretching back to his teens. He has mug shots from 2011 and 2012.

From 2012 to 2014, Garcia spent time under the supervision of the juvenile courts. As an adult, he has convictions for giving a police officer fake identifying information in Bexar County, Texas in 2015, drug possession in 2017 and being a felon in possession of a firearm in 2019.

In 2018, a theft charge was dismissed. In 2019, two drug charges were dismissed but Garcia served time for being a felon in possession of a gun.

In September 2022, Garcia was arrested for unauthorized use of a vehicle and drug possession. After posting $17,000 worth of bonds, he was released.

In June 2023, Garcia was arrested for car burglary, evading arrest in a vehicle and being a felon in possession of a firearm and was released after posting $40,000 worth of bonds. The bondsman who covered his arrest lost contact with him so those bonds were doubled and new warrants were issued for his arrest.

At around 5:00 p.m. on August 24, 2023, officers from the police department of San Antonio, Bexar County received a tip about Garcia’s location. He was reportedly seen leaving an apartment on Camelot Court in San Antonio with a long gun and getting into the passenger side of a blue Mitsubishi.

When Garcia realized he was being followed by San Antonio Police Department officers, he turned his rife on the officers. A special weapons and tactics (SWAT) officer driving a patrol car was hit, a second officer was injured by the debris caused by the gunfire and a third officer in a separate vehicle did not sustain injuries after being fired at.

One of the concerning aspects surrounding the shooting of our ofcs last nite… the susp was out on 2 bonds for almost a yr despite committing more crimes & being re-arrested & wanted on 3 diff warrants. Why wasn’t he in jail? Why were’t his bonds increased? People want to know.

— Chief Bill McManus (@Chief_McManus) August 25, 2023

Garcia then carjacked another vehicle and fled to the Westwood Plaza Apartments in San Antonio. He shot at two other San Antonio Police Department officers before barricading himself inside the apartment. One of the officers was seriously injured and taken to the hospital.

With the help of SWAT negotiators and the U.S. Marshals, Garcia was convinced to surrender just after 9:00 p.m. He was taken into custody without further incident.

Bonds for Garcia were set at $4.33 million. He was charged with aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated robbery and five counts of aggravated assault on a peace office.