In his own words: Watch Mobile cop killer’s interrogation by police

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - About halfway through a nearly hourlong interrogation of Marco Antonio Perez following the fatal shooting of a police officer, Detective Julius Nettles demanded an explanation.

“So why did you shoot?” he asked the shirtless Perez hours after Officer Sean Tuder had died.

His response: “Voices told me in my head to pull the trigger.”

“Why? Why?” Nettles asked.

“Spooked,” Perez said.

The interrogation was a key piece of evidence in the capital murder trial of Perez, whom Mobile County Circuit Judge Ben Brooks formally sentenced to death on Monday.

Since Perez did not testify at his trial or speak during the sentencing hearing, that interrogation is the only time the Theodore man has offered his side of the events leading to Tuder’s death on Jan. 20, 2019.

Then 19 years old, Perez had been on the run for several seeks since skipping out on a pretrial conference related to a federal gun charge. On that Sunday, Tuder had received a tip that Perez was at the Peach Place Inn apartments off of Jeff Hamilton Road in west Mobile. The 31-year-old officer arranged for a friend of Perez to message him that her uncle would give him a ride.

Perez alerted his superiors and then headed from his home in Daphne, arriving in his personal car and wearing civilian clothing. Surveillance video shows Tuder and Perez scuffling in the parking lot. Second later, Perez shot Tuder and then ran into the woods, where other officers chased him down and shot him with a Taser gun.

Perez waived his right to remain silent and spoke to Nettles and Detective Jermaine Rogers.

“Talk to me. Help understand you, Perez,” Nettles said. “Help me understand you.”

Perez: “What do you mean?”

Answered Nettles” “I’m just – I’m missing something. I’m missing something, Perez. You’re 19 years old. You’re staying in the (expletive) woods. You’ve got a kid on the way. I’m missing something. I’ve got to be.”

Perez insisted he did not see Tuder’s badge and did not know who he was.

“I don’t know who the hell he was,” he said. “But when he got out of the car, he pulled a gun out.”

Nettles told Perez police had talked to other people in the apartment complex who all did see Tuder’s badge.

“You don’t’ give a damn about the gun and the bad,” he said. “That’s why you didn’t see it. You don’t care. … You shot a police officer because you don’t care.”

The investigators told Perez they already knew what happened. They said they were trying to find out why and repeatedly asked the question, eliciting variations of the same answer.

“What happened today?” Rogers asked.

“I don’t even know what happened today,” Perez answered.

When Nettles told him he could explain it, Perez said, “I don’t even know why it happened. I don’t even know what happened.”

At another point, Perez said: “My mind went blank. I don’t know what the hell happened after that.”

Another time, he said: “I don’t know why I did what I did.”

Nettles growing increasingly frustrated.

“The only reason I’m raising my voice right now is because I’m a bit aggravated,” he said. “I’m a bit aggravated right now. At some point, Perez, you’ve got to stop running.”

Nettles continued to press.

“You sitting up here saying ‘I don’t know; I went blank; I heard voices in my head’ – none of that – it’s not good enough,” he said. “It’s not good enough.”

The detectives never did get a satisfying explanation. But they did draw some emotion from Perez, who said he had traumatized himself.

“What are you crying for?” Nettles asked.

Perez’s voice cracked.

“I mean, ‘cause probably I’m facing a hell of a long (time) in jail,” he said. “I got a kid on the way. I always said I’d be there for my kid.”

The detectives told Perez it was his opportunity to “man up” and give a full accounting of what he did.

“Man up?” Perez responded. “It’s over with. There ain’t no getting out of this.”

After nearly an hour, Perez had had enough.

“I want my lawyer,” he said, bringing an abrupt end to the interview.