NEISD Fires Two Police Sergeants and Suspends Three Officers Over the Botched Response to the Serna Elementary Threat

North East Independent School District has fired two police sergeants and disciplined three other officers over the department's response to a threat against Serna Elementary School, KSAT reported on Oct. 28, and the district's disciplinary records, obtained and published by The Hawk's Eye, lay out why. Sergeants Moses Suarez and Reyes Bermea were terminated effective Sept. 24, 2026. Sergeant George Teniente, Detective Leticia Sanchez and Officer Michael Luna received written reprimands and three workdays of suspension without pay, according to the records.

The review covers Aug. 28 through Aug. 31, 2026 — the weekend San Antonio police investigated the reported threat. KTSA reported on Sept. 1, citing SAPD and an arrest warrant, that Nathaniel Michael Carrasco, 22, had been arrested and charged with making a terroristic threat, with investigators alleging he used an artificial intelligence program to threaten students and discuss obtaining a gun in messages written Aug. 11 that came to authorities' attention Aug. 28. NEISD initially said SAPD had provided information about a general threat involving a school and a person who lived near Serna, according to KSAT's Sept. 1 report, and Principal Jennifer Lomas told families campus officials learned Serna had been specifically named when that information appeared in news coverage. The district said additional police and safety personnel were deployed at the campus as a precaution.

The letters describe the handoffs that failed. Dispatch verbally informed Suarez of a potential threat to Serna at about 9 p.m. on Aug. 28 and texted him about 10:20 p.m., identifying a detective and asking or directing him to make contact, the termination letter says; Suarez replied "Got it," but investigators found he did not make the contact or report the information through department procedures, and at about 8:48 a.m. the next day he forwarded the message to another officer rather than the on-call sergeant, without confirming it was received or reviewed. Bermea received the forwarded communication while on duty Aug. 29 and told investigators he did not see it that day; the district found he was responsible for monitoring work communications on shift, and concluded the lapse caused a "loss of trust and confidence" in his supervisory duties. Teniente, the on-call sergeant that weekend, told investigators he had expected a text and went to sleep without checking his district email, where the information had been sent. Sanchez did not open a Fusion Center detective's email notification until Monday, Aug. 31, and Luna, the department found, had sufficient information to understand Serna had been identified and did not timely and accurately convey that through the appropriate channels. Suarez was placed on paid administrative leave Sept. 3 and Bermea on Sept. 4, before the firings, the records say.