SAN ANTONIO – The trial began on Friday for three former San Antonio Police officers charged in the 2023 shooting death of Melissa Perez.

Perez was experiencing a mental health episode when the officers responded to her apartment.

Sgt. Alfred Flores and Officer Eleazor Alejandro are charged with murder. Officer Nathaniel Villalobos, who fired his gun but did not hit Perez, is charged with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon by a Public Servant.

The 46-year-old woman was suffering a schizophrenic episode. After speaking to officers outside, Perez abruptly walked back to her apartment. One officer tried to reach through a window to unlock a patio door, but Perez came toward him with a hammer.

“You’re going to get shot,” the officer could be heard shouting at Perez.

“Shoot me,” the woman responded through the open window.

After trying to talk Perez out, the officers claimed they decided to go in because the hammer posed a threat to Perez’s friend, who was bedridden inside the apartment.

According to the civil case, they discussed non-lethal weapons but instead decided to try and grab Perez when she set the hammer down on a nearby couch.

All three officers fired their weapons after Perez picked up the hammer and charged.

Prosecutors detailed the events of June 22nd and 23rd of 20-23, when San Antonio police responded to a disturbance at Perez’s apartment.

Daryl Harris, a prosecutor, described how Perez, with windows and lights on, sat on her couch as officers attempted to engage her. Perez refused to exit her apartment and approached officers with a hammer. Harris noted, “And Villalobos jumped back over the rail, and I believe the evidence will show from the court on this camera, he says, I’m gonna give a damn about the hammer.”

Prosecutors argued that none of the 15 officers present considered obtaining a warrant to breach her home. The defense, led by Jason Goss, countered that the officers had only a split second to act, emphasizing their duty to return home safely. Goss stated, “Others behind them would have done it too if they were on the front. So what this trial is going to be about is that those chairs would have been just filled with three different people.” He added, “As she was coming at three officers, with a hammer they had a right to go home.”

All three officers have pleaded not guilty, and the trial is set to resume on Monday.