Tarrant County sheriff honors wounded deputy, misses briefing on man killed by deputies
Several attendees at the Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting on Feb. 19 questioned why Sheriff Bill Waybourn missed a briefing about an officer involved shooting 20 minutes after he honored a deputy wounded by gunfire in August 2024.
“Where is the sheriff?” said Jorge Loyo, whose brother Christopher Loyo was shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies serving a mental health warrant on Jan. 31. “I think it’s kind of odd that he was here to receive the award, but once he saw the agenda, where is he?”
During the briefing, Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons, who attended remotely via video call while out of town for a conference, asked if Waybourn was present.
“I’m sure he saw this agendized and made the decision not to stay around to address it, which speaks volumes,” she said when his absence was established.
“We do not brief the Court regarding open cases,” Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Laurie Passman said in an emailed statement. “This is consistent with police practices and open records processes around the nation.”
Waybourn briefed the commissioners at the Jan. 14 meeting on two deaths in the county jail from December. Both of those deaths remain open cases.
“The Commissioners were made aware ahead of time that we would not be briefing on the recent critical incident,” Passman said. “However, Commissioner Simmons decided to proceed using pressure tactics despite having full knowledge that the Rangers are the investigating agency and therefore we wouldn’t be able to answer questions. This type of questioning in a public forum only leads to assumptions, rumors and misinformation being released into the community. We need to wait until the investigation is complete and we have all the facts.”
Anthony Johnson, whose son, Marine veteran Anthony Johnson Jr., died in the Tarrant County jail in April 2024 during an altercation with jailers, also expressed frustration over Waybourn’s absence. The medical examiner ruled Anthony Johnson Jr.’s death a homicide, and two guards face murder charges.
“They have just had a murder case, and what do they do? Start celebrating,” said Anthony Johnson, referring to the recognition of Deputy Todd Tipton, who was shot three times while arresting an accused child sex offender.
Johnson made the statement in the elevator of the Tarrant County Administration Building after he and his daughter Janell were removed from the courtroom while addressing the commissioners.
Anthony Johnson was standing beside his daughter while she spoke when County Judge Tim O’Hare ordered her removal for saying an expletive during a moment of emotion. O’Hare ordered the father’s removal as well when he expressed his frustration with the sheriff’s absence and his daughter’s removal.
Rather than Waybourn giving the briefing himself, County Administrator Chandler Merritt read the press release the Sheriff’s Office sent to the media on Feb. 1 regarding the shooting of Loyo, who had been arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and bonded out a week prior.
The press release stated that Loyo had attacked deputies with a knife, but Merritt told the court that he had been informed that the weapon was actually a sword.
Simmons asked what occurs when the Sheriff’s Office receives a mental health warrant call, prompting O’Hare to ask if anyone in the room could answer.
Sheriff’s Deputy Calvin Bond stepped up to the podium to say that deputies serving mental health warrants usually coordinate with family members, who are most often the ones to make the call for help, to arrange for the subject to make themselves available to officers.
That is not what happened in Loyo’s case, according to his family. Jorge Loyo said deputies broke down his brother’s bedroom door to get to him before trying less aggressive tactics. His family has requested the body cam footage of the altercation, but has not been able to view it.
“They never tried to simply talk to him, not a simple hello,” he told the commissioners. “This could all have been avoided by just a conversation. He wasn’t a threat.”
When asked by Simmons whether sheriff’s deputies are trained to deal with calls like Loyo’s, Bond said: “Our deputies have different varying levels of training. Some of them have been fully certified as mental health officers … Some of them are continuing to receive that training. It’s ongoing training every year. So they do have specialized training in dealing with these issues.”
The Sheriff’s Office also coordinates with My Health My Resources of Tarrant County and the judges who issue mental health warrants on such cases, he said.
When Simmons asked if mental health professionals accompany deputies on mental health warrant calls, Bond said, “Not that I’m aware of.”
Bond deferred to Texas Rangers, who are in charge of the investigation, when Simmons asked about the specific procedures that were followed in Loyo’s case.
The Texas Rangers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bond also responded in the negative when Simmons asked if he had a timeline as to when Loyo’s family would be able to view the bodycam video of his death.
Speaking to reporters outside of the courtroom, Loyo’s mother Maria Elena Guerrero echoed laments heard by the families of others who have died in custody or under the supervision of the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office.
“I’ve been crying over the death of my son for three weeks, and no one will answer my questions,” she said in Spanish. “It makes me feel terrible, helpless, untrusting of authorities. I’ll never ask for help from authorities again.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 5:21 PM.
