Protesters seeking ‘Justice for Lee Roy’
Family, friends of unarmed man killed by South Texas police say officers used excessive force, demand justice
EDINBURG — Moments before Lee Roy Villarreal was shot by multiple Edinburg police officers, his girlfriend Kyna De La Rosa remembers pleading with him to get out of the truck he’d barricaded himself inside of and surrender.
“Do it for your daughter,” she remembers telling him. “Do it for us.”
But when Villarreal did leave the vehicle, it wasn’t the peaceful reunion De La Rosa had anticipated. Instead, on that September day, police fatally shot the unarmed 36-year-old.
Now, she and family and friends of Lee Roy Villarreal are demanding answers from the Edinburg Police Department. A group of roughly a dozen protesters shouted “Justice for Lee Roy” across the street from the Edinburg police station over the weekend as community members drove by and honked their car horns. Edinburg, near the southern border, is about 12 miles northeast of McAllen.
The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating and multiple officers were put on paid administrative leave following the incident, which involved officers who responded to calls about Villarreal driving recklessly near a local middle school.
Edinburg Police Chief Jaime Ayala said the situation was “a classic case of suicide by cop.” Police fired at Villarreal because they believed he was holding a weapon when he approached officers, he said.
“My son wasn’t crazy,” said Lydia Villarreal, who was at the scene, along with De La Rosa, when her son was shot. She believes officers used excessive force.
“He had no weapon, yet they call it suicide,” she said. She said her son was an outgoing young man who liked to fish and spend time with his family.
Police first got involved in the midday incident on Sept. 27 after receiving calls that Villarreal had been driving around and “doing doughnuts” in an open field by Memorial Middle School in a red pickup truck. Reports indicated he was possibly intoxicated, Ayala told reporters in a news conference in late September.
Then, someone from the Edinburg Consolidated school district told police Villarreal had entered a nearby residence and he was highly intoxicated. The person told emergency dispatchers that Villarreal said, “If police are called, he’s ready for them,” according to the police chief.
The residence he visited prior to the shooting belonged to his girlfriend’s father. De La Rosa told the Houston Chronicle she and Villarreal had been staying there at the time he was killed.
The property owner told police he was unsure if Villarreal was armed, police said. Villarreal then left the house and returned to the truck, at which point officers tried to make contact with him by phone. They gave him commands to come out with his hands up. He opened the truck door, but then retreated and started to do doughnuts again, police said. Negotiators failed to reach him by phone. Police surrounded the area to try and contain Villarreal.
Villarreal’s mother denies that negotiators were present when she arrived at the scene — she said she saw him just before his final moments, when he was still inside the truck and he was facing a line of police officers.
“He wanted to come out but he was scared because all the officers were there,” Lydia Villarreal said. She said she made eye contact with her son and he started hitting the steering wheel. It looked like he was panicking, she said.
She and De La Rosa were pleading with police, who believed he was armed, not to hurt him. The women were both shielded from seeing what happened next by police blocking their way, they said.
According to the police chief, Villarreal then got out of the driver’s side of the truck with a makeshift shield and an object that officers believed was a weapon and started to approach them suddenly. Officers fired several shots, striking him repeatedly.
Both the Texas Rangers and the Edinburg Police Department declined to comment, citing ongoing investigations.
Lydia Villarreal said she wants to see the evidence of what happened to her son, whom she says did not deserve to be shot and killed.
“My son was a beautiful boy,” she said, “I want this brought to justice.”