New video shows police killing boy after stealing car in June

Shocking newly released video shows the moment a Texas A police officer shot dead a 13-year-old boy after he stole a car and tried to ram another officer’s vehicle, and now his family is calling his death an unjustified use of deadly force.

On June 3, 2022. the authorities say Andre Hernandez Jr. was driving a stolen red Toyota Corolla with two other youths when he was shot by San Antonio Police Officer Stephen Ramos.

Newly released video shows deadly police shooting of a 13-year-old boy in June 2022 in a stolen car

Ramos and two other officers, identified only as Claire and Espinoza, had responded to reports of gunfire and loud music around 1 a.m

Video received from the San Antonio Express News shows the officers chasing the stolen Corolla, which is able to back away from Ramos’ vehicle before pulling into a driveway.

“Don’t let him ram you!” Ramos yells at Espinoza, who stops his Chevrolet Tahoe cruiser before opening the door and resting his left leg on the side of the vehicle.

The video released by police involved the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old boy, which the grand jury’s decisions justified. #San Antonio #Texas #AndreHernandez #real crime #Police Shootout #UNITED STATES pic.twitter.com/Rknw116gz1

— Nathan Adams (@NateAdams5k) February 21, 2023

“Let me see your hands!” Espinoza screams and sticks his leg back in as the Corolla hits his vehicle.

Seconds later, Ramos is seen getting out of his car and opening fire, video shows.

“I was shot, sir,” Hernandez says after exiting the vehicle before falling to the ground.

Authorities called the shooting a “tragedy” but added that the boy’s age at the time of the shooting “was not known to the officer.”

Ramos checks on Hernandez and runs to his squad car to get a medical kit and administer first aid. The young teenager was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, according to the outlet.

The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office called the shooting of a minor a “tragedy,” but Hernandez’s age “was not known to Officer Ramos at the time, nor does it diminish the threat to Officer Espinoza.”

A San Antonio police officer shot dead 13-year-old Andre Hernandez Jr. during a police pursuit of a suspected stolen car on Friday.

The police officer shot the moving vehicle as it pulled away from him. pic.twitter.com/D6rD35p1kG

— Rebecca Kavanagh (@DrRJKavanagh) June 9, 2022

“It was reasonable for Officer Ramos to believe that Officer Espinoza was standing outside his vehicle and was therefore being threatened with deadly force by the red Toyota as it accelerated toward him,” the memo detailing the prosecutors’ investigation said is described, according to the Express News.

District Attorney’s Office Denies Charges Against Officer Ramos, Victim’s Family ‘Frustrated’

The memo said Officer Espinoza “used deadly force to prevent undue harm.”

“These facts led Officer Ramos to believe that Officer Espinoza was threatened with deadly force. He used deadly force to spare Officer Espinoza wrongful harm in accordance with the Texas Penal Code, the outlet added.

Prosecutors eventually declined to file criminal charges against officer Ramos.

Hernandez family attorney Lee Merritt said they were “very frustrated” by the grand jury’s decision not to press charges against the officer and are now instead moving forward with a federal civil rights indictment.

6/3/22: Andre Hernandez Jr., 13, was shot dead during a traffic stop by SAPD officer Stephen Ramos, who believed the car might have been stolen. Second shooting for cop Ramos who shot + killed John Pena Montez during a domestic call in 2021. The grand jury solved both murders. pic.twitter.com/YnrFclNBse

— IncarcerNation (@IncarcerNation) January 16, 2023

The Hernandez family attorney alleges the car is moving too slowly to pose a threat to officers

Ramos, who previously fatally shot John Pena Montez during a domestic call in 2021. A grand jury acquitted him in this incident as well.

“This officer killed two people, he has nothing to do with the police profession,” Merritt said.

Merritt countered that the Corolla was moving too slowly at the time to pose a threat to Espinoza, “never exceeding 5 miles per hour,” the attorney said KEN5.

“These cars never went faster than 5 miles per hour and AJ Hernandez posed no mortal threat to anyone,” Merritt told news channel KEN5.