Loved ones of Malachi Williams gather at the San Marcos Public Library to remember his life in a vigil organized by his family and Mano Amiga in late April. Photographed by Christopher Paul Cardoza.

On April 11, a San Marcos Police officer shot and killed 22-year-old Malachi Williams near the local HEB. 

Malachi was a young man suffering from homelessness and mental health crises in a city a half-hour from his hometown of Lockhart. According to the initial report, Malachi fit the description of a suspect that was reportedly following civilians around with two large knives: a shorter black man in his 20s, wearing blue pants and a yellow shirt. SMPD says  officers failed  to stop the suspect with a taser, and he continued running while wielding a knife with people in the immediate vicinity.

 “The police’s statement says a taser was unsuccessful, but what does that mean? Did they miss? Is my nephew dead because this officer can’t properly deploy a taser? A taser can take down a bull; my nephew weighed less than 130 pounds. And why wasn’t our family notified for over 48 hours?” says D, uncle of Malachi Williams. “We also haven’t been told which way he was turned when he was shot, what kind of knife he allegedly had, why they didn’t send him to the nearby trauma center, how many times they shot my nephew, anything. We also want to see the convenience store footage and the 911 call transcript. My nephew was a gentle soul and wouldn’t have hurt anyone. If the police conduct this investigation in a transparent manner, the community will see that too,” he continued.

As the old African proverb goes, “An axe forgets but the tree remembers.” This initial story about Malachi is similar to what was initially reported  in 2022 when Hays County jailer Isaiah Garcia shot Joshua Wright from behind multiple times, killing him in an emergency room in Kyle with patients and medical staff nearby. The Examiner discovered and reported that the executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas had deleted his initial false tweet claiming that Wright had been shot because he “grabbed sharp medical instruments.”  SMPD made a similar initial statement when officers shot and killed Rescue Eram in 2021, claiming he was wielding a knife, which in fact was just a screwdriver. What we see here is a pattern of local police relying on violence and the willingness to lie for each other.

“A few days after my grandson was murdered, I went around and talked to all the businesses around the plaza that Malachi slept at. The people working there only had kind things to say about him, even before I revealed I was his grandpa,” says Pastor Wayne Miller. “The lead investigator in this case has been in contact with me, and I feel that he and law enforcement are trying to paint my grandson in a negative light. They don’t know who he was as a person, but everyone who met him there only spoke fondly of him.”

In the statement made by SMPD Chief Stan Standridge following Malachi’s fatal shooting, he claimed that the bodycam footage of this Violence in Blue that took Malachi’s life would be “released in a timely manner.” As we all know by now, the same was said about the bodycam footage of the killing of Joshua Wright in December 2022 – a video that has yet to see the light of day.

“Isaiah Garcia shot my son in the back 5 times. 5 TIMES!! And Hays County continues to support and cover up his savage act,” Mrs. Wright said. 

Chief Standridge also mentioned that the name of the officer who killed Malachi will not be released to the public, but this officer will be allowed to return to work within a week of taking a young man’s life after essentially a paid vacation – gestures that suggest strong support for this Violence in Blue. At that, I joined Malachi’s family in feelings of disgust and disappointment in SMPD and its chief in charge.

As I passed out flyers beside Malachi’s mother and siblings to share the truth about this young man and raise awareness of his terrible loss,  it hurt my heart to see and feel the pain in another grieving mother’s eyes from the hands of the Boys in Blue and the violence that comes with them. It’s a feeling I felt far too often from my own mother in the 5+ years that I was subjected to the cruelty and savagery of SMPD and its detectives, locked in jail on a false charge. 

It was even more unsettling to see the fear and sudden rage overtake this mother’s face as she watched Chief Standridge tell an entire community that the officer that took her son’s life will be allowed right back on the streets to potentially do the same to another victim of homelessness and mental health issues, or to another son, or brother, or friend.

“How am I or my family supposed to feel safe knowing this monster is right back out there – what if he comes for one of us next?” she expressed disdainfully.

Malachi was a victim of Violence in Blue and the ongoing problem of police violence and abuse of power right here in Hays County, San Marcos, Texas. As was Joshua Wright and his family in 2022, Rescue Eram in 2021, Jennifer Miller and Pam Watts in 2020, John Kelley (a deaf man  who was tased and beaten by SMPD for not complying with orders he could not hear) in 2019, and many more.

It’s no surprise that SMPD takes such pride in their stance of Violence in Blue, as the namesake of Hays County, John Coffee Hays, was known for his brutal force as a Texas Ranger. SMPD has definitely honored that origin, expressed in each of these examples.

Malachi’s killing was especially relevant to the heart and soul of San Marcos: Texas State University. Students were outraged and heartbroken because Malachi could just have easily been any one of them, some of whom were present when the shooting happened. 

 “I will never be able to see my baby brother again, and wasn’t even granted the opportunity to say goodbye. Those with answers get to sleep and go home to loved ones, whilst my family mourns and wonders in agony,” says Kay Miller, Malachi’s sister.

Malachi was no monster, nor was he a villain. He was a struggling young man that needed help and resources, not police violence resulting in the loss of his life. SMPD is no friend of mine nor are they friends of the community. They have now and for some time been fear mongers and abusers of many in the San Marcos community. When police are seen in public, there is not a feeling of safety, service or admiration. There is one of worry, fear, danger. That is what the community of San Marcos has expressed to me, and it has been my lived experience with this egregious, continuous Violence in Blue. 

However, some may see these incidents and say, “Well he shouldn’t have been …” or “If I was them …” etc, blah, blah, blah. To you I say you are standing on the side of violence and, unfortunately, were not gifted with eyes that can see truth. The truth of the matter is that this pattern of police violence is not new, it’s not slowing down, nor is it decreasing crime. There are just more cameras these days to televise the true nature of SMPD, which is brute and savage. Quarrels are met with violence first, excuses and cover-ups later. This is why Mano Amiga and other community members have gone through so much in a pursuit to change policies that make police immune to accountability for their bad acts. Of course these battles for equality and justice have been met by full opposition from SMPD and supporters of the Violence in Blue.

 Assata Shakur, a Black Liberation Army activist, once said, “Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.” This we have seen on too many occasions. This system and its mechanisms are not flawed; they are in perfect alignment with the system’s purpose – and that purpose has never been to protect and serve all people.

BY CYRUS L GRAY III