A San Antonio man has been convicted of threatening to kill a park ranger at the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park.
A federal jury found Sergio Renato Tapia guilty on a charge of threatening to murder a federal officer.
Testimony established that Tapia often spent time at the Missions and the park rangers there knew him and could recognize his voice.
He was arrested July 26,2023, after a threatening voicemail message was left on a visitors center phone.
Jurors heard the profanity-laced voicemail message in which the caller identified himself as Tapia, referenced an employee at Mission Concepcion and said, “I just want to say his days are numbered.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Kirk Mangels told the jury before the call was played in court that Tapia identified himself multiple times throughout the message.
“I’m gonna (expletive) murder him, he’s (expletive) dead. I’m gonna shoot him in the (expletive) head, OK?” the caller said. “He’s a fat, he’s a bald (expletive) son of a (expletive), OK? I’m gonna (expletive) kill him.”
At the end of the call, the man said, “…Watch,” followed by a noise that sounded like a gun being cocked and fired without ammunition.
Mangels told the jury there is no dispute the voicemail is real, and he said the person being threatened was Chief Ranger Alex Heyer.
Heyer told the jury that Tapia has a history of interactions with law enforcement officers at the park, and said one of the rangers checked the messages at San Jose Visitor Center’s front desk phone and recognized Tapia’s voice, as did others who worked there.
Tapias attorney Gene May told the panel that Tapia has a history of mental health issues and was going through a psychotic episode when he made the call. He urged the jury to consider that he was not himself at that moment.
U.S. District Judge Jason Pulliam, who presided over the trial, is scheduled to sentence Tapia on July 29.