The Victoria police officer identified in a police report as being threatened by an armed man suspected of shooting two people moments earlier in January has had over 1,000 hours of law enforcement training and successfully completed state-mandated courses since gaining his peace officer license in October 2021.
Officer Timothy Westberry
Victoria police Officer Timothy Westberry’s course work both at the Victoria Police Academy and a private education program included 160 hours of field training, over a dozen hours in use of force and several classes in using less lethal force, such as beanbag guns and electric stun devices like Tasers.
Police have not confirmed Westberry is the officer who shot the armed suspect, identified as Jorge Luis Lozano, 26, of Victoria, following a shooting of two of his relatives at The Pointe at Victoria Apartments, 2402 N. Ben Wilson St., the night of Jan. 27. But in the only incident report about the shooting police would release, Westberry was identified as a “public servant” who was placed “in fear of serious bodily injury or death.” That term is generally seen as justification for an officer to fire a weapon at a person.
Gallery: Victoria shooting
Three people were injured in a shooting at The Pointe Victoria on Jan. 27, including one man who engaged with officers and was struck.
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Police officers place crime-scene tape outside a building in The Pointe Victoria apartment complex where three people were shot on Jan. 27.
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Victoria police and an ambulance at an apartment complex where three people were shot on Jan. 27
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An ambulance and police car are outside an apartment building in Victoria where three people were shot on Jan. 27.
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Police and EMTs are outside the building where three people were shot in a second-floor apartment on Jan. 27 at The Pointe Victoria.
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Victoria police cars line up in the parking lot of The Pointe Victoria, where three people were shot in an apartment on Jan. 27.
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Police officers stand outside the apartment building where three people were shot on Jan. 27 in Victoria.
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Police officers discuss a shooting outside the apartment building where three people were injured in shootings on Jan. 27 in Victoria.
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A police car in the parking lot of The Pointe Victoria apartments, where three people were shot on Jan. 27.
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Police cars are stopped in The Pointe Victoria apartments following a shooting on Jan. 27.
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Lights on a police car in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Victoria, where three people were shot on Jan. 27.
Lozano was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a public servant and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. His bail was set at $300,000.
The city last month declined to release most information requested by the Victoria Advocate regarding the officer-involved shooting.
The incident report identified Lozano and the two people he’s accused of shooting before his confrontation with officers. Lozano was struck in the arm when shot by police that night, one of his relatives told the Advocate.
But beyond that initial report, the city chose to seek an opinion from the state Attorney General’s Office on whether most requested documents could be withheld.
An ambulance and police car are outside an apartment building in Victoria where three people were shot on Jan. 27.
Among the items the city declined to release are the officer’s name, records regarding the gun used in the shooting, video or audio recordings from the scene of the shooting and any 911 calls to the dispatch center regarding the shooting and the initial shooting that prompted the police response to the apartment complex. The city also declined to release the officer’s employment history, prior uses of force or marksmanship skills or training.
City Attorney Allison Lacey told the Advocate last month the city referred the records request to the Attorney General’s Office because it is “standard procedure” in officer-involved shootings when an investigation is pending completion. Asked how the officer’s record on the job, the officer’s shooting record and officer’s training could affect an investigation, she said, “Because the statute says it could affect it.”
State law does not prohibit the city from releasing such information, an expert on public records said in February.
Police officers discuss a shooting outside the apartment building where three people were injured in shootings on Jan. 27 in Victoria.
“They can release that information; they don’t have to withhold it,” Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, said in an email to the Advocate. “It’s discretionary on their part.”
Westberry’s training records were released by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement following a records request from the Advocate.
That personal status report on Westberry shows he was licensed as a peace officer Oct. 14, 2021, and a year later, Oct. 13, 2022, received his basic peace officer certificate.
In all, he’s passed 1,086 hours of TCOLE course hours through Feb. 6 of this year.