A federal jury heard a profanity-laced voicemail filled with threats to kill a San Antonio park ranger as the federal trial of a San Antonio man began Tuesday.<\/p>\n
U.S. District Judge Jason Pulliam seated a jury late Monday to hear the case involving Sergio R.\u00a0Tapia, who was arrested July 26, 2023, on a charge of interstate communications with threat to injure. He was arrested after a park ranger at San Antonio Missions National Historic\u00a0Park heard a voicemail message that was left on an office phone.<\/p>\n
READ ALSO: San Antonio man gets 10 years for viewing, sharing child porn<\/a><\/p>\n The caller, who identified himself as Tapia, referenced an employee at Mission\u00a0Concepcion and said “I just want to say his days are numbered.”<\/p>\n “I’m gonna\u00a0(expletive) murder him, he’s (expletive) dead. I’m\u00a0gonna\u00a0shoot 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\u00a0(expletive) kill him.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The caller identified himself by name multiple times throughout the message, prosecutors sad.<\/p>\n “There is no dispute the voicemail is real,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Kirk Mangels told the jury in his opening statement. He identified the focus of the voicemail as Chief Ranger Alex\u00a0Heyer.<\/p>\n Mangels told the jury that Tapia has a history of interactions\u00a0with law enforcement officers at the park, and said the park ranger who checked the messages at San Jose Visitor Center’s front desk phone recognized his voice, as did others who worked there.<\/p>\n