A domestic disturbance inside a Converse home turned deadly Wednesday evening when a 38-year-old man opened fire on a woman as she tried to leave, and a neighbor who returned fire killed him. The shooting happened around 7 p.m. near Kitty Hawk Road and Topperwein Road, and the man was pronounced dead at the scene. The neighbor who fired the fatal shots left the area in a black SUV, and investigators are still searching for him.
Neighbor's Return Fire, Then a Vanishing Act
According to WOAI News 4 San Antonio, the woman had left the residence and was walking toward a nearby house when the man opened fire on her, prompting the neighbor to step in. The outlet reports that the Bexar County Sheriff's Office found the man unresponsive inside the home, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
KENS 5 reports that Bexar County Sheriff's Office deputies identified the victim as a 38-year-old man who suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body inside a mobile home on Kitty Hawk Road. The station's preliminary reporting indicates that the man began firing toward the woman and the neighbor as the two were leaving, which is what prompted the neighbor to return fire and fatally strike him. Investigators are still working to determine the full circumstances of the shooting, including whether the neighbor's actions amounted to a lawful defense of another person.
What Texas Law Says About Defending a Neighbor
Texas law could ultimately determine whether the neighbor's actions were justified. Under Texas Penal Code Section 9.33, a person is legally justified in using deadly force to protect a third party if they reasonably believe intervention is immediately necessary to stop unlawful deadly force against that person. A related statute, Texas Penal Code Section 9.32, requires that anyone using deadly force in self-defense or defense of others reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to prevent imminent death, serious bodily injury, or a violent felony such as murder.
But leaving the scene without contacting authorities carries its own legal exposure. Texas Penal Code Section 38.171 makes it a Class A misdemeanor to fail to immediately report a felony involving serious bodily injury or death when a person could do so without facing personal danger. If the shooting is ultimately found to be legally justified, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 83.001 would shield the neighbor from personal-injury or wrongful-death lawsuits over the shooting.
A County Already Strained by Domestic Violence Calls
The shooting adds to a heavy caseload of family violence cases across Bexar County. The Collaborative Commission on Domestic Violence recorded 32 domestic violence homicides, 1,750 family assault calls, and 3,734 family disturbance calls countywide in 2024. The Bexar County District Attorney's Office runs a dedicated Family Violence Division, staffed by 57 assistant district attorneys and 15 criminal investigators, to evaluate and prosecute intimate-partner and domestic assault cases.
Bexar County relaunched its Safety Team Active Response program, known as STAR, in April 2024 to connect domestic disturbance callers in unincorporated areas directly with emergency case managers and safety planners, according to San Antonio Report. The stretch of Converse around Kitty Hawk Road and Topperwein Road, where Wednesday's shooting unfolded, is described in the City of Converse's 2050 Comprehensive Plan as a growing mixed-use corridor blending single-family neighborhoods, high-density housing, and mobile home communities.
A Pattern of Fatal Shootings in Converse
Wednesday's shooting is the latest fatal gunfire Bexar County Sheriff's deputies have investigated in the Converse area in recent years, including a deadly Converse shootout in December 2023. No charges have been filed as the search for the neighbor continues, and investigators have not said whether the shooting will be treated as a justified defense of another person or an unexcused homicide.
