Who is Neida Tijerina? Texas mom-of-4 killed during police standoff with armed husband
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: A 29-year-old mother of four young children, Neida Tijerina, was apparently killed during an hours-long police standoff with her armed husband. San Antonio police chief William McManus addressed Tijerina's tragic death during a news conference on July 28. “This is an extremely tragic event for all involved, and I give my deepest condolences to the children and family of the deceased victim,” McManus said while identifying the victim as Tijerina.
In the recent past, law enforcement officers, as well as innocent civilians, have lost their lives during a standoff. Officer Gordon Beesley who was with the Arvada Police Department in Colorado was killed on June 21 while responding to a "suspicious incident" where he encountered the shooter. The incident resulted in the deaths of both the officer and the shooter as well as an innocent bystander. Brandon Stalker with Toledo Police Department was shot dead in January during a SWAT standoff where the suspect came out of the home with two firearms and started shooting. Andrew Brown Jr, father of 10 kids, was shot dead by a sheriff's deputy in North Carolina while serving a search warrant. His friend Daniel Bowser in an interview said, Brown Jr wasn't a violent person and he "didn't mess with guns, didn't tote no guns".
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What happened to Neida Tijerina?
According to McManus, the police department responded to Tijerina's apartment complex on Monday, July 26. He said they responded to a complaint “for a suicidal male threatening to kill his common-law wife” who was with her three young children, according to NBC. Upon arriving at the scene, McManus said the cops learnt it was a hostage situation where 28-year-old suspect Angel Sanchez was armed with a shotgun and was wearing a body armor. McManus said Sanchez had a history of domestic violence and “indicated to family that he was going to kill Ms Tijerina and then kill himself".
The police then sought the help of additional units including SWAT as well as a hostage negotiator. Nearby residents were evacuated for safety reasons after which Sanchez came out of the apartment while aiming his gun at the police officers. “Sanchez was heard taunting officers trying to get them into a confrontation,” McManus said, and all attempts of calming him down or getting him to surrender were unsuccessful and he went inside the house.
Tijerina had escaped the house once but couldn't leave with the police because her children were inside and she didn't want to leave them alone. Sanchez left the apartment once again, an infant in hand this time, and quickly retreated back inside. Three officers got on the roof of a nearby building and opened fire at Sanchez who came outside for the third time still pointing a gun at them. The three officers who were providing cover from the roof opened fire on Sanchez, striking him. Sanchez dropped his shotgun and officers approached to take him into custody. That's when Tijerina was found dead.
“Officers discovered that Ms Tijerina had died from a gunshot wound," McManus said. "The Bexar County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy this morning. While they cannot yet conclusively state that Neida died as a result of the officers firing on the suspect, the physical evidence appears to support that conclusion," he added saying that the cause of the woman's death was a "ballistic injury to the chest" and the manner of her death is "homicide". Sanchez, who is described as the father of all four kids, the youngest and the eldest, 3 months and 13-years-old, was critically injured. He is charged with three counts of aggravated assault of a public servant.
A GoFundMe campaign was started for raising money for Tijerina's funeral and to take care of her children. "Neida was the most humble and caring person! If she could help out anyone financially or to just bring a smile to your face she would! Our family thanks you in advance for donations of any kind. We need to raise money for her funeral expenses and anything for her children. She leaves behind 4 children of ages 13, 11, 5 and 3 months. Children’s clothes, shoes, pampers, etc! This is temporary until we all get settled. Again we thank you for anything you can do for our family in this time of need," the organizer wrote. At the time of writing this article, the page raised $5,480 of $5,000 goal.