'I won't give up': Family seeks answers in Joshua Wright’s in-custody killing, demand body cam video

SAN MARCOS — Tears welled in Beverly Wright's eyes on the steps of the Hays County Historic Courthouse on Tuesday as she, joined by family, friends and community advocates, prepared to plead with the county judge and commissioners to help in their journey toward "Justice for Josh."

Wright's son, Joshua Leon Wright, was a pretrial inmate at the Hays County Jail who was shot and killed by a correctional officer while being treated at Ascension Seton Hays Hospital in Kyle last month. Authorities, who have remained tight-lipped about critical details in the shooting, remained unwilling to release the body camera footage showing the 36-year-old's final moments.

The lack of transparency from law enforcement has riled community advocates. They allege that the correctional officer who shot Wright — at least six times according to an independent autopsy referenced this week by local attorney Chevo Pastrano — is still working inside the jail while the shooting is being investigated.

"They have the video, and they need to release it," Wright said Tuesday. "You took somebody's son. We loved him. We need to know what happened. I need to know what happened. I won't give up. I won't go away."

More:'Justice for Josh': Calls for release of officer's body camera footage in Joshua Wright death grow

Did correctional officer have previous red flags?

At least a dozen people spoke during the public comment section of the Hays County Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday, each urging County Judge Ruben Becerra and the commissioners to push law enforcement to release the footage.

One of those speakers, activist Amy Kamp with the nonprofit social justice group Mano Amiga, named the correctional officer they believe killed Wright on Dec. 12, adding that he is the same person the group had been warning elected officials about for months.

Authorities have not released the name of the officer, but Kamp alleged that the officer appears to have a history of violence while working inside the jail.

"Yesterday, after we learned his name, we were further shocked to learn that (he) is still working in the jail," Kamp said, pausing as the audience gasped in response. "This is unacceptable. I have a lot of respect for some of you on the dais, but we have told you about this officer. I don't know that anything has been done to investigate this."

Kamp said she shares "the family's calls for the release of the bodycam footage, but I'm demanding that the officer be fired immediately."

Authorities in mid-December were vague in their initial statement about the shooting, but did say Wright first assaulted the officer before running through the emergency room where he was receiving treatment. The corrections officer then shot Wright, but authorities did not say in their statement whether he was armed or how he posed a threat to others in the hospital.

More:Questions persist after shooting of jail inmate at Kyle hospital. Here's what we know.

Charley Wilkison, executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas, said in a tweet last month that Wright had grabbed sharp medical instruments and began running toward hospital staff and civilians when the officer shot him. He then deleted his tweet the next day, retweeting a nearly identical statement but changing "grabbed" to "moved toward."

Becerra, on the day of Wilkison's first tweet, requested that the Hays County sheriff's office release all relevant bodycam footage by Dec. 22. As of Tuesday, the footage still had yet to be shared publicly.

The Austin Police Department, under its own policy, tries to provide such footage within 10 business days after lethal force is used — but that is not a practice commonly followed by neighboring jurisdictions like Hays County.

Becerra told the American-Statesman that the statements made by the family and their advocates were "confirmation of the things I already know, which is very unfortunate."

The county's top administrator said that because the sheriff's office is duly elected, he as county judge could create as much policy as he wanted, but the sheriff can, in turn, still "give me the bird."

For now, Becerra said social pressure might be what will get the footage released.

"Part of that transparency is to allow justice and time and everything necessary to unfold, so I have to be careful in supporting this big push for the release to make sure that we don't jeopardize justice by causing haste."

Kamp confirmed in her statement that she'd been working with a former inmate named Cyrus Gray to collect evidence and witnesses against the officer, telling commissioners that she could divulge what she's collected if requested.

Gray told commissioners that while he was in jail, his mother would remind him frequently to stay away from the correctional officer, fearing he would be harmed after her son said he was being retaliated against by the officer.

"When I talked to my mother yesterday and I told her (about Wright and correctional officer), my mother cried," Gray said. "It didn't register with me at the time, but it hit me with surprise because I realized that it could have been me."

Famed attorney stepping in

On Monday, the Wright family held a news conference led by nationally recognized civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represented the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, both of whom died at the hands of law enforcement in 2020.

“We want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help us, God,” Crump said. “This case is about trust here in the San Marcos community. It's about transparency leading to truth and accountability, and then we can have trust that no matter who we are that we get equal justice under the law.”

Pastrano, who joined Crump on the steps of the Ulysses Cephas House in San Marcos on Monday, questioned how Wright could have run through the hospital with his feet shackled.

Although authorities have yet to confirm the details, Pastrano said that Wright had been taken to the hospital on Dec. 12 handcuffed and shackled. Wright had to use the bathroom, so his handcuffs were removed, but the shackles remained around his ankles.

While in the restroom, a short scuffle and a push happened between Wright and the officer before Wright tried to run from the emergency room and was shot in the back, Pastrano said.

An independent autopsy requested by the family revealed that the Wright was shot at least six times, and one of those bullets went through his spinal cord and would have paralyzed him, yet the officer continued to shoot him, Pastrano said.

“There is no excuse or reasonable explanation why a man in shackles should ever be fired upon even once,” Pastrano said. “There are less lethal ways to stop a man from running away in shackles. We are here because we want to discover the truth. We want justice for Joshua, and the one way that we will be able to do this is by being able to view that video.”

On Tuesday, Wright's brother, Christopher Clark, continued the call for transparency.

"I'm angry," Wright said. "I want transparency. We want to know what happened. We want to know the details. If you have nothing to hide, and if you've done nothing wrong, release the video."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Family seeks answers in killing of Hays County inmate Joshua Wright