A San Antonio man is facing a kidnapping charge after police say he pointed a handgun at a 22-year-old woman and forced her into his vehicle near downtown early Wednesday morning. Officers located both the woman and the suspect, identified as Jason Santos, a short time later, and she was found safe.
According to WOAI, the incident happened around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday near Terry Court and North St. Mary's Street. Police say Santos pointed a handgun at the woman and demanded that she get into his vehicle, then drove only a short distance before stopping. A witness saw the encounter and called 911, and officers arrived to find the woman safe and Santos still at the scene, where he was taken into custody without further incident.
A Dead-End Street Off a Busy Nightlife Corridor
The intersection where the abduction reportedly began sits just off San Antonio's St. Mary's Strip, a nightlife and commercial corridor in the Tobin Hill neighborhood where pedestrian and vehicle traffic typically peaks between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., according to the San Antonio Express-News. Terry Court itself is a narrow, dead-end residential street branching off North St. Mary's Street — a layout the City of San Antonio's District 1 Council office has flagged for future safety upgrades, including plans to replace standard No Outlet signage with flashing LED indicators in 2026. That combination of a dense late-night crowd along the Strip and a quiet dead-end just off it may help explain how a bystander was positioned to witness the alleged abduction and alert police so quickly.
Investigators have not said what led up to the encounter, nor whether Santos and the woman knew each other beforehand. The investigation remains ongoing, per WOAI's report, and it is unclear what, if any, additional details police may release as the case moves forward.
What Santos Could Face Under Texas Law
Santos is currently facing a kidnapping charge, which under Section 20.03 of the Texas Penal Code is classified as a third-degree felony, carrying a punishment range of two to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000, according to Dunham & Jones. But the allegation that a handgun was used could push the case toward a far more serious charge. Under Texas Penal Code Section 20.04, an abduction becomes aggravated kidnapping — a first-degree felony punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison — if committed with a deadly weapon, to hold someone hostage, or to terrorize the victim, the Texas Criminal Defense Group explains. Penalties can drop to a second-degree felony if the victim is voluntarily released in a safe place, though it remains unclear which charge Bexar County prosecutors will ultimately pursue.
As with other recent San Antonio felony arrests, Santos would typically be booked into the Bexar County Magistrate System before the Bexar County District Attorney's Office reviews the police case file and decides whether to present formal charges to a grand jury, a process Hoodline previously outlined in a similar Bexar County case.
Part of a Broader Citywide Crime Trend
The swift response that led officers to the woman fits a pattern seen citywide. San Antonio Police Department emergency response times for priority calls improved to an average of 5 minutes and 29 seconds in 2025, down from 5 minutes and 56 seconds the year before, aided by increased staffing, according to KSAT. Crimes against persons — a category that includes kidnapping, assault, and homicide — dropped 9% citywide in 2025, falling from 31,180 reported incidents in 2024 to 28,361, the outlet reported. A separate violent crime reduction initiative, run by San Antonio police alongside University of Texas at San Antonio criminologists, reduced violent street crime by 63.2% across targeted high-crime hot spots in 2025 compared with the prior year, per the San Antonio Report.
Overall reported crime in San Antonio fell by more than 13% between 2024 and late 2025, dropping from 143,529 total incidents to 124,314 reported through November, according to the same KSAT report. San Antonio police classify and track abductions like this one under the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System, a framework SAPD adopted in November 2020. This case joins several other recent San Antonio kidnapping arrests, including one in June involving a suspect apprehended after a high-speed chase into Live Oak, though it is unrelated to that incident.
