A teenage suspect has been nabbed in the aftermath of a shoot-out in a San Antonio H-E-B parking lot, which resulted in a toddler and two adults being wounded, authorities said. The violence unfolded earlier this week on the city's North Side, casting a shadow over a mundane setting frequented by families and residents running their daily errands, as reported by KSAT.
Police have identified 17-year-old Gabriel Xavier Garza as the alleged gunman. Garza was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was booked into Bexar County Jail on Tuesday, with bail set at $200,000, according to KSAT. Investigators believe that Garza participated in a dispute that escalated to gunfire between two groups in the bustling parking lot located at the intersection of San Pedro Avenue and Oblate Drive.
The shooting spree left a man in his 20s with non-life-threatening injuries, found wounded in the back of the store. In a turn of events, one of the vehicles implicated in the shooting dashed to an apartment complex in the 1700 block of Jackson Keller Road, where a 22-year-old woman and a three-year-old child suffering from graze wounds were consequently discovered, KSAT reports.
All victims, including the toddler, were rushed to University Hospital for treatment. While senseless gun violence has continually marred communities across the nation, the recklessness of this particular incident, occurring in a space as innocuous as a grocery store parking lot, reminds the city of the pervasive threat of public shootings. Details regarding the motive behind the altercation and subsequent shooting remain sparse, but the swift apprehension of one of the suspects signifies a prompt response by local law enforcement to such brazen acts of violence.
