Police: Man staged killing to look like self-defense

A San Antonio man arrested on a murder charge is accused of staging a homicide scene to make it look like a case of self-defense, court records show.

Kameron Hunter Johns, 24, was arrested Wednesday and charged with murder in connection with the death of 32-yearold Pete Michael Barrera. He is being held on $250,000 bail.

On Jan. 15, Johns flagged down a San Antonio police officer, saying that he had shot someone in selfdefense, an affidavit supporting Johns’ arrest said.

He told the officer that he and Barrera were at a friend’s house when they got into an argument over food that was being made.

Johns said Barrera grabbed a nearby machete and swung it at him, the affidavit said.

Johns said he backed away, drew his handgun from his pants pocket and fired, hitting Barrera in the neck.

Johns said Barrera continued to come toward him, so he fired again, hitting Barrera in the head.

Despite being told to turn himself in immediately, Johns went to a nearby Wendy’s before flagging down an officer, the affidavit said. Johns didn’t have the address where the shooting occurred, so the reporting officer wrote a report for aggravated assault.

The following day, a detective located the witness, who provided the address. When the detective arrived, he could see through a back window that Barrera was dead.

The witness told police that the shooting wasn’t in self-defense. He said that Johns became upset for an unknown reason and confronted Barrera for insulting him, the affidavit said.

The two started fighting and Johns shot Barrera, the witness said. Johns told the witness that he intended to claim self-defense and put the machete in Barrera’s hand and shot him again, according to the affidavit.

The witness said that Johns threatened to shoot him if he didn’t help.

The autopsy report from the Bexar County Medical Examiner showed that Barrera was hit by close-range shots and that the body was moved after the shooting, corroborating the witness’s account.