A 25-year-old man was struck multiple times in a drive-by shooting before dawn on the 1500 block of North Sabinas Street near Culebra Road, and was rushed to University Hospital as San Antonio police worked to track down the shooter. Officers responded around 5:30 a.m. Thursday to the West Side scene, where the gunfire capped off yet another violent night in a neighborhood with a long, troubled history.
According to KENS 5, the vehicle used in the shooting was last seen fleeing the scene by turning onto Lombrano Street. A separate report from WOAI described the shooting as occurring at a West Side home located off North Sabinas Street near Interstate 10, and characterized the investigation as still developing as of Thursday morning. No arrests have been announced in connection with the shooting.
A Block With a Violent History
This is not the first time gunfire has visited this stretch of North Sabinas Street. Crime Stoppers of San Antonio records show the 1500 block was the site of an unsolved homicide on October 11, 2016, when 37-year-old Angelo Polendo was fatally shot and then run over by a fleeing vehicle. The case remains open a decade later, per the same organization's records.
Violence has also struck nearby blocks of the same street. The 1100 block of North Sabinas Street saw a June 2016 home invasion in which three masked gunmen broke into a residence around 4 a.m. and shot a man in the abdomen, according to KSAT. Further back, in 2009, the Bexar County District Attorney's Office sought court injunctions to establish a Lincoln Courts safety zone bounded on the east by North Sabinas Street, aiming to keep 25 alleged gang members from congregating in the area, as reported by MySA.
How the Investigation Works Overnight
Because the shooting happened before sunrise, initial evidence gathering fell to San Antonio police's specialized Night Criminal Investigations Unit, which handles crime scene processing for overnight shootings before daytime units take over, according to KENS 5. That structure helps explain why many details about the shooter and the exact circumstances remain unresolved hours after the gunfire.
Anyone with information about the shooting can contact Crime Stoppers of San Antonio, which offers cash rewards of up to $5,000 for anonymous tips that lead to a felony arrest in local violent crime cases. Depending on how the case is charged, a conviction could carry significant prison time: under Texas Penal Code § 22.02, discharging a firearm from a vehicle and causing serious bodily injury constitutes aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a felony punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison, or up to 5 to 99 years if elevated to a first-degree felony, according to the Luster Law Firm.
Citywide Trends Versus a Persistent Hotspot
The shooting comes even as San Antonio's overall violent crime numbers have been trending downward. Homicides fell 8% during the first half of 2026, building on an 18.5% decline in 2025 under the city's Violent Crime Reduction Plan, which combines hotspot policing with targeted intervention, according to the San Antonio Report. Still, San Antonio Police Department data show crimes against persons ticked up slightly citywide, with 15,884 recorded from January through June 2026 compared to 15,709 during the same period in 2025.
This is the second West Side shooting Hoodline has reported on in as many days, following a traffic stop shooting the day before. North Sabinas Street itself has also been the site of other recent violence, including an armed robbery and beating detailed in Hoodline's earlier report on a Rivas Street home invasion. No further details on a motive or suspect description have been released, and police have not said whether the North Sabinas Street shooting is connected to any of the area's prior incidents.
