The Dallas police officer who was arrested last week and charged with two counts of capital murder has been fired, the police department said.
Bryan Riser, 36, is accused in the 2017 shooting death of Lisa Saenz and the death of Aubrey Douglas, who was reported missing that year but whose body has never been found.
Toby Shook, Riser's criminal defense attorney, said Tuesday that Riser is innocent and "was blindsided by the charges."
The Police Department announced the officer's termination Tuesday and said in a statement that it would not comment further because of an ongoing criminal investigation.
"We received information from a witness that implicated Riser in both murders," Police Chief Eddie Garcia said last week, adding that both killings were connected to Riser's "off-duty" life.
Riser's firing by the Police Department could be appealed under civil service rules. Jail records show Riser is being held in lieu of $5 million bail.
Riser, who has been with the department since 2009, was fired during a disciplinary hearing Tuesday, police said.
The officer was first implicated in the murders in August 2019, Garcia said, when a witness told police that they kidnapped and killed a person at Riser's direction.
Shook, Riser's attorney, said that the evidence is based on what he described as violent felons with pending capital murder cases. Three other men have previously been arrested and charged in the killing of Saenz.
Shook has also told The Associated Press that Riser does not know Douglas and there's no evidence connecting them, and that Saenz was a roommate of Riser's father “at some point in time" but Riser did not have a relationship with Saenz.
