Northeast Side Jewelry Sale Turns Into Gunpoint Robbery, Suspect Still Loose

A 24-year-old San Antonio resident arranged to sell jewelry to a stranger at an apartment complex on the Northeast Side last week, only to have the buyer pull a handgun and take off with the merchandise without paying a cent. Police are now asking the public for help tracking down the suspect, who remains at large nearly a week after the robbery.

The robbery happened at about 2:10 p.m. on August 19 at 9310 Starcrest Drive, according to WOAI, which first reported the case. That address is home to Villa Navarone Apartments, a residential complex in the 78217 zip code, according to property listings for the site. Police said the victim had arranged to meet an unknown suspect there to sell jewelry when the deal turned violent.

Instead of completing the exchange, the suspect pointed a handgun at the victim and fled with the jewelry without paying, police said. The station's report does not describe the suspect further or indicate whether the victim was physically harmed during the encounter. San Antonio police are now seeking the public's help identifying or locating the person responsible.

How to Report a Tip

Anyone with information on the suspect's identity or whereabouts is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 210-224-STOP (210-224-7867), per the same account. Crime Stoppers of San Antonio may offer a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to a felony arrest, though tips must be submitted directly through Crime Stoppers or the P3 Tips app to qualify for that reward, according to Crime Stoppers of San Antonio.

The Starcrest Drive address falls within the coverage area of the San Antonio Police Department's North Substation and its San Antonio Fear Free Environment, or SAFFE, community policing unit, according to the City of San Antonio. The department maintains designated Safe Exchange Zones with 24-hour video surveillance in parking lots and lobbies at all six of its substations specifically for residents completing online sales, according to the San Antonio Police Department.

A Pattern Police Have Warned About for Years

This is not the first time a private sale in Bexar County has ended in gunfire. In August 2023, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar warned the public about the dangers of meeting strangers for online transactions after two separate sales meetups turned into shootings on the same night, one of them fatal, according to KENS 5. Local officers continue to urge sellers to meet in well-lit public places during daylight hours, avoid isolated locations, refuse requests to relocate to a secondary site, and use camera-monitored police exchange zones whenever possible.

Hoodline has previously reported on similar cases in San Antonio, including a marketplace deal gone wrong in February and a January case in which a Facebook meetup turned deadly for a pregnant mother. Teenagers were also arrested this month in a separate gunpoint jewelry robbery at a park on the city's East Side.

Citywide Robbery Numbers Are Falling, But Risks Remain

The Starcrest Drive robbery comes even as San Antonio's overall crime numbers have been trending downward. Citywide robberies dropped 16.4% in 2025 compared to the previous year, alongside an 18.1% decline in overall property crime, according to annual statistics presented by Chief William McManus and reported by KSAT. A separate violent crime reduction strategy run in partnership with criminologists at the University of Texas at San Antonio produced a 21.1% drop in citywide violent street crime last year, with targeted high-crime areas seeing reductions as steep as 63.2%, according to the San Antonio Report.

Despite those broader gains, isolated one-on-one meetups arranged online remain a soft spot for opportunistic violence, as this case illustrates. Under Texas Penal Code Section 29.03, robbery committed with a handgun or other deadly weapon is classified as aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison and fines of up to $10,000. The offense also carries a 3G designation under Article 42A.054 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, meaning a judge cannot grant straight probation if the suspect is convicted.

No arrest has been announced in the case as of publication. Police continue to ask anyone with information to come forward through Crime Stoppers as the investigation continues.