THREAD: I’m home, cuddled up with my dogs after a chaotic evening covering #BlackLivesMatter protests in #SanAntonio. But before I go to bed, I wanted to upload this video and give a full account of what happened this evening.
The demonstrations began around 5 p.m. at the courthouse. The woman who originally tweeted about the protests cancelled it at the last minute, with around 15 minutes to spare, citing the potential for violence.
Hundreds still showed up. But without a leader, the protests seemed rather aimless. The demonstrators would walk to SAPD headquarters, back to the courthouse, then back to headquarters again. There was no clear end to the evening, no person in charge.
Granted, there’s a reason for that. Power to the people, after all. But while a majority of the protesters were peaceful, I kept getting the hint that a few were prepared for the worst.
For example, around 7 p.m., when things could have begun winding down for the night, some protesters with bulletproof vests showed up. One guy had nunchucks. Another had a knife. Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s completely legal. But it caught my eye.
At various points in the evening, a few protesters would get riled up. On the 281 Access Road, protesters got in the face of police, leaning into them or yelling at them, trying to provoke them to act. The police remained calm.
From there, the protest traveled back to the courthouse. Then to Travis Park. And finally to Alamo Plaza. When the group arrived at Alamo Plaza, tensions were high. But it remained peaceful for the most part.
Then, someone threw a plastic water bottle at the police. I was right next to the officer. The bottle bounced off him. The officer seemed a bit surprised but fine. While emotions were high, several demonstrators urged everyone to remain calm.
“That’s not what we’re here for,” one guy yelled. “We’re here for peace.”

“Ya’ll chill the fuck out,” someone else said.
Some people started kneeling and lying on the ground.

Meanwhile, @m_b_dunphy, @JBfromSA, @josephineishere & I remained in an entrance way near Ripley’s, observing and taking videos.
A couple times, I held my badge up as I went toward police to shoot videos, so they would know what I was doing. Several appeared to see it.
Then, @SATXPolice dressed in full riot gear approached the front line. They remained there for a few seconds.

“Put your hands up,” one protester yelled. “Let everyone know we’re not here to hurt nobody.”
Before the man could finish his sentence, four shots rang out. Then came a louder boom. The crowd began running. We ran with them. It was utter chaos.
Since the streets were blocked off, there was nowhere we (the press) could go that was safe. We kept hearing shots coming from behind us, and I started to feel the effects of the pepper balls. We just kept running.
As we ran, @m_b_dunphy (a fellow reporter who was on a bike ride when he ran into the march & joined us to document what was happening), was hit by a wooden bullet in the back of the thigh.
To be clear, it did not appear like the police were shooting at us specifically. We didn’t even get a chance to say “We’re press.” We just ran.
But surely they knew the press was there, that we were spread out among the protesters, and that we could get hurt if force was used.

Alternatively, if we weren’t hurt by police use-of-force, we could have been hurt by the stampede that followed.
Moreover, police issued no warning before deploying gas and shooting wooden projectiles (which, while non-lethal, can cause serious bodily damage).
And while someone did toss a plastic water bottle at the police, that was almost two minutes prior to the shots being fired. It’s possible someone else tossed a glass water bottle, as SAPD said in a Tweet, but I didn’t see that, nor do I see it in my video.
As shots continued to ring out, I turned the corner and sought shelter. I stood up against a wall with my hands above my head, my press badge in my hand. But I knew it was small, and that a police officer likely wouldn’t see it if he turned the corner.
We ran across the street and sought cover again. There was nowhere safe to shelter and do our jobs. We continued to hear the sound of shots and we could smell the pepper balls.
Police were driving down the street at alarming speeds, trying to continue to disperse the crowds. The smell of gas got stronger. It felt like nowhere was safe, even though we were press.
After several minutes of this - of us trying to do our jobs, find cover, make sure our colleagues were OK, move again, - we found a safe place on a corner and called our editors. @JBfromSA, grace under pressure, dictated a story by phone to our editor, @sandrasantos.
I’m thankful to my friends, colleagues and editors, including @LaurenCaruba, @marinastarleaf, @nlopez10 and @sandrasantos, who continually checked in on us all night to see how we were doing.
And more than anything, I’m thankful to work with a badass crew of reporters / photographers like @m_b_dunphy, @JBfromSA, @josephineishere and @SilviaElenaFF, all of whom made me feel safe and supported.
Anyhow, it’s been a long night and I may have some more thoughts tomorrow, but I thought it was important to share the full story prior to hitting the hay.

Thank you to everyone for calling, texting and checking in on us. Stay safe, and I’ll see y’all tomorrow. ♥️

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