Discrepancies and late report on 2023 APD officer-involved shooting

Questions surround a police shooting involving an Abilene man who is scheduled to stand trial.

Robert Guevara Jr., 38, is accused of pointing a gun at officers, including one who then shot him on Jan. 22, 2023. He remains behind bars awaiting a court date in Taylor County Court. Guevara suffered a gunshot wound to the torso.

The questions stem from discrepancies in Abilene police’s accounts of the shooting. Additionally, APD filed a legally required report with the Texas Attorney General’s Office more than a year late.

Accounts of the incident that led to charges against Guevara vary between an APD press release on the day of the incident and court documents filed a day later by an APD officer.

Additionally, law enforcement is required by law to file a report with the AG’s office on any officer-involved shooting that results in death or injury within 30 days of the incident.

Repeated online searches last week of a public database maintained by the AG’s office containing such reports turned up no report on the Guevara incident. It appeared in the database on Monday, the day it was received by APD and sent by the AG’s office.

Notably, the missing report appeared in the AG’s database after The Reporter-News requested information about it.

Rick Tomlin, public information coordinator for the Abilene Police Department, did not respond to emailed requests for information on Thursday and Monday.

In any event, Guevara faces four charges in connection with this incident: a first-degree count of aggravated assault on a public servant, one count of possession of methamphetamine, one count of endangering the welfare of a child, and a fourth count of auto theft with a firearm.

Online jail records show he was being held in the Taylor County Jail on Tuesday on a total bond of $4 million.

Anyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Previously missing report

Although the press release regarding the incident and the criminal complaint present two different threads, it begs the question why the APD report on the police shooting was filed with the AG’s office about a year and a half late.

Under Texas law, law enforcement must file a report if a peace officer “discharges a firearm, causing injury or death to another person.”

The Guevara incident, however, did not appear in the AG’s database until Monday, while two other recent police shootings in Abilene in 2024 that left two civilians dead appeared within 30 days of those incidents.

“I Got My Gun Back”

The report submitted to the AG is simple.

It alleged that a person injured in an officer-involved shooting was “carrying, displaying, or using a deadly weapon.”

So why was the press release different from the court documents?

According to a police press release dated Jan. 22, 2023, concerned neighbors called police around 6:30 p.m. after noticing a broken window at a home in the 3500 block of North Ninth Street.

When officers arrived, they observed an empty vehicle in the driveway.

According to the allegations in the press release, they observed “what appeared to be illegal drugs in the vehicle.” As officers began to formulate a plan and move away from the vehicle, they observed a man approaching the driver’s side of the vehicle.

The press release states that one of the officers “made verbal contact with this person while impersonating a police officer.” The officer then ordered the man to show his hands.

Instead, according to the allegations in the release, the man “reached behind his waist and reached for a gun.” The officer then fired at the man, hitting him at least once in the torso area.

“Officers determined that a child was in the vehicle during the incident,” we read in the press release.

The entire baby was “quickly removed from the area and reunited with her family.”

Officers who arrived at the scene began providing medical aid to the man, who was taken to the hospital where he was treated for a gunshot wound.

Court records later identified the man as Guevara, who was 36 years old at the time of his February 2023 arrest.

What discrepancies?

The original APD press release included a series of events that led to the shooting of Guevara by Abilene Police Officer Kyle Lassetter. However, court documents differ in this respect.

The complaint, filed a day later on Jan. 23, 2023, alleged that Guevara not only recovered the gun but also “showed it to the officer.”

Additionally, the complaint states that officers saw Guevara “carrying a small child” and placed the child in the backseat before firing shots.

Why did the plot change a day later? When did the officers observe the small child and did Guevara actually point a gun at the officers as alleged?

On June 4, the Reporter-News filed a records request with the city of Abilene to obtain body-worn camera and police vehicle footage. The city has 10 days to respond to the request and had not responded as of Tuesday morning.

According to inmate correspondence filed on November 15, 2023, Guevara said: “I know I am innocent… I am not a criminal.”

What did local law enforcement officials say?

The Reporter-News reached out to APD’s Tomlin for comment on why there were discrepancies between the accounts in the department’s news release and the contents of the complaint.

In response, he provided the following statement: “It would be disingenuous to comment on any legal proceedings without appropriate documents on which to rely. The Department will allow the system/litigation process to continue before providing any comments.”

The Reporter-News then asked why a report on the shooting was apparently not filed with the AG’s office last week. APD did not respond. Instead, they submitted their report about a year and a half late.