A woman was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to her upper extremities after police say she struggled with a man over a handgun he had retrieved during an apparent attempt to shoot himself, in a domestic dispute on the Northeast Side. The shooting happened on the 7300 block of Azalea Square on Saturday, and the man now faces pending charges following his arrest.
According to San Antonio police, the man and woman had been arguing before he retrieved the firearm, as reported by WOAI. Police say the man then attempted to shoot himself, and the woman tried to intervene by grabbing for the gun. During that struggle, she was struck by gunfire and suffered a gunshot wound to her upper extremities, per the outlet's account of the SAPD report.
Officers who responded found the woman suffering from the apparent gunshot wound, and she was transported to a local hospital for treatment. The man was arrested at the scene and now has pending charges stemming from the incident, though it remains unclear which specific charges prosecutors will pursue.
What Charges Could Follow
Under Texas Penal Code Section 22.02, an assault involving a deadly weapon or causing serious bodily injury is typically classified as a second-degree felony, carrying a potential sentence of 2 to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, according to legal guidance from Varghese Summersett. But when an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon involves family or domestic violence, prosecutors have the option to elevate the charge to a first-degree felony, which can carry a sentence of 5 to 99 years or life imprisonment, the same source notes. It is not yet known which path prosecutors will take in this case.
The circumstances described by police also touch on a separate legal framework: intervention during a mental health crisis. Under Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 573, law enforcement officers have the statutory authority to carry out an emergency detention without a warrant if someone poses an imminent risk of serious harm to themselves or others due to a mental health crisis, per FindLaw. It is unclear from available reporting whether that authority was invoked in this incident.
A Pattern Across Bexar County
The Azalea Square shooting adds to a grim tally in a county already grappling with the scale of domestic violence. Bexar County recorded the highest per-capita domestic violence death rate among Texas counties in 2024, according to data from the Texas Council on Family Violence relayed by the City of San Antonio in May. San Antonio police respond to an average of more than 40,000 family violence-related calls each year, according to the Collaborative Commission on Domestic Violence.
Domestic violence homicides in Bexar County dipped slightly from 33 in 2023 to 32 in 2024, per the commission's statistical report as covered by Texas Public Radio. That same report found Bexar County magistrates issued 2,267 emergency protection orders and fielded 1,568 civil protective order applications in 2024, underscoring how frequently the courts are called on to intervene after violent disputes.
Another Northeast Side Shooting Under Investigation
The Azalea Square case is one of several recent firearm incidents SAPD has investigated on the Northeast Side, which falls under the department's North Patrol Substation. In March, police investigated a separate domestic shooting in the 6400 block of Indigo Forest, where a teen suffered a head wound inside a home. No further details on the man's arraignment or the woman's condition following her hospitalization have been released.
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