San Antonio Police officers shot and killed an Indian American man last Sunday during a domestic violence call, The San Antonio Express-News reports.
Police identified the man on Tuesday 42-year-old Sachin Kumar Sahoo.
According to News 4 San Antonio, the events leading up to the shooting began around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. Police responded to a call at a house near Tezel Road on the Northwest Side. When they arrived they found an injured 51-year-old woman who witnesses said was intentionally hit by a BMW while she was standing on the sidewalk.
Then, around 12:30 a.m., neighbors reported that Sahoo had returned home. Sahoo allegedly turned violent when officers arrived and rammed them with his vehicle. One officer fired at Sahoo, shooting and killing him.
The injured woman, who has been identified as Candace Byrnes, recently spoke to the press while recovering from her hospital.
“When I met Sachin, I was crying outside of the Salvation Army and just praying,” said Byrnes, per KENS 5. “Sachin showed up and told me he was an Uber driver. He offered me a room in return for me to help around [the house]. We would help each other.”
Byrnes said about a week into her stay she noticed Sahoo speaking to himself. His ex-wife Leah Goldstein told reporters that Sahoo had bi-polar disorder. Byrnes believes that Sahoo had stopped taking his medication.
The woman also added that Sahoo “a little more than friendship” but she didn’t. She was waiting for a friend to pick so she could leave when she was struck.
“I said I was going to leave and that I would be back in a couple of hours,” she told KENS 5. “He started screaming in his car, so I thought, ‘Okay, I’m just going to walk away.’ That’s the last thing I remember. I woke up to being on tubes and not breathing on my own.”
Byrnes added that she doesn’t resent Sahoo.
“I don’t hold any resentment towards him,” said Byrnes. “I just feel a lot of hurt.”
In a separate interview with KENS 5, Goldstein described Sahoo as a “great dad” and questioned the police’s treatment of her ex-husband.
“They needed to take him to the hospital,” she said. “He could’ve been taken to the hospital. But everything went wrong.”
Goldstein also added that he was a “lovable” man.
“So sorry that all of his dreams and passions,” Goldstein said. “He couldn’t see them fulfilled. Because of his illness.”
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