SAN ANTONIO – A teenager killed in a shooting at a Fiesta event at Historic Market Square late Saturday night had an extensive criminal record, five pending warrants and was out on bond for three other charges, according to court records obtained by KSAT Investigates.
The records raise questions about why Mikey Valdez, 18, was not behind bars when the shooting occurred.
“He had an extensive record. He wasn’t spending any amount of time in jail as a result of these arrests,” SAPD Chief William McManus told KSAT Wednesday afternoon.
Market Square shooting
Valdez was killed just after midnight on April 28 near a stage in the 100 block of Concho Alley.
According to a preliminary report from San Antonio police, two officers chased Valdez after hearing a gunshot and seeing him start running. The officers then shot Valdez after witnessing him shoot Albert Cisneros Jr., 20, SAPD said. The medical examiner’s office said Valdez had multiple gunshot wounds. Officers recovered two guns at the scene near the men’s bodies.
Four bystanders, all women, were also shot at the scene, according to police. SAPD has not said whether the bystanders were hit by the suspects’ gunfire or by police gunfire.
Cisneros does not appear to have a criminal record in Bexar County.
Why was Valdez not in jail, despite past cases?
Valdez, who turned 17 early last year, had a lengthy adult arrest record in Bexar County.
Less than a month before the shooting, Valdez was arrested by SAPD on charges of felony vehicle theft, felony unauthorized use of a vehicle and unlawful carry of a weapon, records show.
He posted bond a day later on all three charges, which were pending at the time of his death.
Last year, Valdez avoided a conviction and jail time in two other burglary of vehicle cases after accepting deferred adjudication in a separate juvenile court case, the records show. That agreement with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office opened the door for Valdez to later post bond in 2024 — after his arrest three weeks before his death — because he was not placed on adult probation in 2023. Defendants arrested while they are on probation are often held without bond until a judge decides whether to revoke their probation.
The 2023 charges stemmed from April of that year when Valdez was arrested for engaging in organized criminal activity and two counts of burglary of vehicles, charging paperwork obtained by KSAT shows.
The charge of engaging in organized criminal activity was dismissed in early June for further investigation.
Prosecutors in late August then dismissed both burglary cases against Valdez after he was given deferred adjudication in a prior juvenile court case, records show.
Dismissals for 2023 charges
The dismissals stipulated that Valdez, who was 17 at the time, be “sentenced to placement in juvenile case.”
This designation typically requires a defendant, who is a minor, to serve probation either in the custody of Child Protective Services, a juvenile treatment facility or at a home other than the one he or she was previously living in, a judge explained to KSAT Wednesday.
A spokesman for the Department of Family and Protective Services told KSAT via email Wednesday that the agency’s case information is confidential by law and would be on file with the court system where the child resided.
Asked for comment, a spokeswoman for the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office pointed KSAT to the court records for Valdez’s engaging in organized criminal activity case but said records from the other cases “are not public record and would not be subject to disclosure.”
James Tocci, the attorney who represented Valdez in the 2023 cases, told KSAT Wednesday that he could not recall where Valdez was placed after being given deferred adjudication or what his client had been charged with in juvenile court.
Tocci did note that he had spoken with Valdez’s mother in recent days and that she was “obviously very upset.”
Valdez charged again in 2024, weeks before shooting
In 2024, Valdez was arrested by SAPD on April 10 on unrelated charges of felony vehicle theft, felony unauthorized use of a vehicle and unlawful carry of a weapon, records show.
Police last month described Valdez as a “known burglar” and said several burglaries occurred in heavily populated parking lots, specifically identifying the areas around La Cantera and The Rim.
After police recovered several pieces of stolen property at Valdez’s home after carrying out a search warrant, officials told the media more charges against Valdez could be expected.
Valdez bonded out of jail a day after his arrest, on April 11, after posting bonds totaling $35,000, records show.
Valdez had been scheduled for a prehearing on May 8 on the felony charges in 399th District Court and was scheduled to be arraigned in the gun case on May 10, court records show.
Valdez full list of charges, outcomes
At the time of his death, Valdez also had five pending warrants, SAPD officials confirmed to KSAT on Wednesday.
The warrants were for burglary of vehicles, two charges of theft of firearm, possession of a prohibited weapon-machine gun and possession of marijuana between 4 ounces and 5 pounds, officials confirm.
A majority of the pending warrants were felony offenses.
See a full list of all known charges in Bexar County against Valdez and their status as of his death.
- Juvenile case (deferred adjudication in Aug. 2023 - charge unknown because juvenile records are sealed)
- Engaging in organized criminal activity (rejected in June 2023)
- Burglary of vehicles (dismissed Aug. 2023)
- Burglary of vehicles (dismissed Aug. 2023)
- Theft of vehicle $2,500-$30,000 (on bond, pending at time of death)
- Unauthorized use of vehicle (on bond, pending at time of death)
- Unlawful carry of a weapon (on bond, pending at time of death)
- Burglary of vehicles (warrant pending at time of death)
- Theft of firearm (warrant pending at time of death)
- Theft of firearm (warrant pending at time of death)
- Possession of marijuana 4 oz. to 5 lbs. (warrant pending at time of death)
- Possession of a prohibited weapon-machine gun (warrant pending at time of death)
“My position is that you break the law, you commit a crime, you need to be held in jail, especially a violent crime or especially if you are a serial car burglar or car thief,” said McManus.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.