Damian Daniels

Damian Daniels, 30, a Black Army combat veteran who had served in Afghanistan, was shot and killed by Bexar County, Texas Sheriff's Deputy John Rodriguez outside his home on August 25, 2020, during a mental health welfare check requested by his family. Deputies, including Sheriff Javier Salazar himself, responded and said Daniels became erratic and reached for a legally owned gun in his waistband, leading to a physical struggle that lasted more than two minutes before Rodriguez opened fire, striking him twice. Sheriff Salazar's early public account, including selectively released still images, drew accusations from the family of “material misrepresentations” before full body camera footage was ever made public. A Bexar County grand jury declined to indict Rodriguez in December 2021, roughly 16 months after the shooting. No one has ever been charged in Daniels's death.

San Antonio, TX · Bexar County

• 2020: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The family-requested welfare check, the struggle over Daniels's firearm, and the shooting, per body camera footage the Bexar County Sheriff's Office released publicly in December 2021 and the Bexar County District Attorney's Office's public statements.
• Daniels's family called for a mental health check on August 25, 2020; Sheriff Javier Salazar personally responded alongside Deputy John Rodriguez.
• Salazar said Daniels became erratic and reached for a gun in his waistband, prompting a physical struggle that lasted more than two minutes before Rodriguez fired two shots, killing him.
• Before body camera footage was released, Sheriff Salazar shared selectively chosen still images from the encounter; Daniels's family and their attorney publicly called for his resignation over what they characterized as “material misrepresentations” of what happened.
• A Bexar County grand jury declined to indict Rodriguez on December 20, 2021, roughly 16 months after the shooting; District Attorney Joe Gonzales said his office reviewed the footage with the family and stated every officer-involved shooting resulting in serious injury or death in the county would be decided by a grand jury.
• Roughly 27 minutes of body camera footage, narrated by a public information officer, was released the same day as the grand jury's decision; the Bexar County Sheriff's Office separately adopted a new policy requiring release of body camera footage within 10 days of a critical incident going forward.
• Daniels's mother, Annette Watkins, publicly disputed the deputies' account after viewing the footage, stating, “He never moved or said anything for you to attack him like that.”
• The shooting prompted Bexar County to launch a new mental health crisis response unit intended to handle future calls of this kind.

• Whether Daniels's actions during the encounter, including the physical struggle over his own legally possessed firearm, justified deadly force after more than two minutes of physical contact with two deputies, was disputed by his family based on the same body camera footage reviewed by the grand jury, and was never independently tested at any criminal trial since none was brought.
• The specific content and framing of the sheriff's early selectively released still images, and how they differed from the full body camera footage eventually made public, has not been comprehensively documented in a single public accounting.
• The full reasoning behind the grand jury's decision not to indict, beyond the district attorney's general public statement, has not been made available, as grand jury proceedings are sealed under Texas law.

• KSAT — “Grand jury declines to indict Bexar County deputy in fatal shooting of veteran Damian Daniels”
• San Antonio Report — “Grand jury declines to indict Bexar deputy in vet's fatal shooting”
• Newsweek — “Deputy Who Shot Veteran Damian Daniels During Mental Health Call Avoids Charges”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs