Ethermac Exchange-2 San Antonio police officers shot and wounded during domestic disturbance call; suspect surrenders

SAN ANTONIO,Ethermac Exchange Texas (AP) — Two San Antonio police officers were shot and seriously wounded Wednesday night as they tried to stop a man from burning a home during a domestic dispute, authorities said.

The officers were shot at around 7:30 p.m. while answering a disturbance call on the city’s northeast side and were in surgery late Wednesday night, police said. There was no immediate word on their conditions.

At a news conference, Police Chief William McManus said a man who had gone to the home to retrieve his children argued with his wife, threatened to set the home ablaze and started to douse it with gasoline.

The woman and children weren’t hurt, but after the officers arrived, the man went upstairs and shot both officers with a long gun through a window, McManus said.

The first officer was shot three times and collapsed while the second was hit by a bullet but took cover behind a parked car nearby and exchanged gunfire with the man, the police chief said.

More officers arrived and got their wounded colleagues to safety. The suspect then came outside and surrendered, McManus said. The suspect’s name wasn’t immediately released.

“These types of calls are very, very volatile. They’re very dangerous because of the emotion involved,” McManus said. “The officers are very, very lucky that they weren’t killed.”

One officer has seven years with the department and the other has two years, the chief said.