Pete Michael Barrera was a 32-year-old Hispanic/Latino man whose life ended in a fatal shooting in San Antonio, Texas, on January 15, 2023. Barrera, who was also known to relatives and friends as “Peter” or “Flaco,” was remembered by his family as a devoted father, son, brother, uncle and friend. What initially reached San Antonio police as a claimed act of self-defense developed into a homicide investigation after a witness gave detectives an account that sharply contradicted the
alleged shooter’s version of events.
Shortly before 3 a.m. on January 15, Kameron Hunter Johns approached a San Antonio police officer and reported that he had shot someone in self-defense. According to an arrest-warrant affidavit later described by local news outlets, Johns said he and Barrera had been at a friend’s house when an argument broke out over food that was being prepared. Johns claimed Barrera picked up a machete and swung it at him. He told police that he backed away, pulled a handgun from his pants pocket and fired at Barrera, striking him in the neck. Johns said Barrera continued coming toward him, prompting him to fire another shot that struck Barrera in the head.
Despite having just reported a shooting, Johns did not immediately lead officers to the residence where it had happened. According to the affidavit, he said he had gone to a Wendy’s on West Cevallos Street before turning himself in. The officer he initially contacted did not have an address for the shooting scene, and the incident was first documented as an aggravated assault. Police would not locate the residence and Barrera’s body until a witness was found the following day and supplied investigators with the address. A detective went to the home and, looking through a rear window, could see Barrera lying dead inside.
The witness then described a sequence of events that transformed the investigation. Rather than supporting Johns’ claim that Barrera attacked him with a machete, the witness reportedly told police that Johns became angry for an unspecified reason and confronted Barrera after believing Barrera had insulted him. The confrontation escalated into a physical fight, and the witness said Johns shot Barrera. According to the witness, Johns then announced that he intended to claim self-defense and began altering the scene to support that story.
Investigators alleged that Johns placed a machete into Barrera’s hand after the initial shooting. The witness said Johns then fired another shot into Barrera, creating circumstances that appeared consistent with the claim that Barrera had been armed and advancing on him. Johns allegedly photographed Barrera’s body with his cellphone afterward. Police also said Johns threatened to shoot the witness unless the witness helped him. The witness subsequently drove Johns away from the residence to a McDonald’s parking lot near South Laredo Street and Interstate 35, where they met a man and woman in another vehicle. The group later went to a nearby Wendy’s before Johns eventually contacted law enforcement.
Police obtained additional information from the woman Johns had met after the shooting. She reportedly told investigators that Johns had sent her a photograph of Barrera’s body. Authorities also noted that Johns had access to a telephone and could have immediately called police or emergency medical personnel after the gunfire. Instead, according to investigators, he left the residence, went to restaurants and did not initially provide officers with the location of the person he claimed to have shot in self-defense.
Evidence from the medical examination further undermined the original account, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s autopsy findings indicated that Barrera had suffered close-range gunshot wounds and that his body had been moved after he was shot. Investigators considered those findings consistent with the witness’s statement that the scene had been manipulated after the shooting rather than left as it was following an immediate act of self-defense.
The investigation ultimately led authorities to seek an arrest warrant for Johns. On February 1, 2023, Kameron Hunter Johns was arrested and booked into the Bexar County Jail on a murder charge in connection with Barrera’s death. His bond was reported as $250,000. Law-enforcement records and news reports identified Johns as the arrested suspect and described the central allegation against him as deliberately staging the homicide scene to make the killing appear justified.
Barrera’s family later memorialized him as a deeply loved member of their family. His obituary said he was survived by his parents, children and numerous other relatives. While the publicly available reporting located for this synopsis clearly documents Johns’ arrest and murder charge, it does not establish a subsequent trial verdict or conviction in Barrera’s killing. The most firmly documented criminal-case development remains Johns’ arrest and accusation that he killed Barrera and then manipulated the scene in an effort to support a false claim of self-defense.
