A man believed to be in his 30s was stabbed and hospitalized Tuesday evening after a fight broke out among several men at Elmendorf Lake Park on San Antonio's West Side, with the victim then making his way to a nearby gas station for help. Police are still searching for multiple suspects, including two to three men in their 30s with tattoos, as the investigation continues.
According to KENS 5, officials were called to the Valero gas station in the 4300 block of West Commerce Street just before 5:30 p.m. Tuesday for a report of a cutting in progress. Police believe an altercation took place between three to four men at Elmendorf Lake Park before the victim made his way to the gas station after being stabbed. The victim was taken to the hospital, and police say his stab wound is non-life-threatening.
Details Still Coming Together
Police have not yet determined exactly where the victim was stabbed, and they say the object used was unknown but believed to be a knife, the station's report notes. Officers detained one man and one woman at the scene, though police are still working to determine whether the pair were actually involved in the altercation. SAPD is looking for two to three male suspects in their 30s described as having tattoos, per the same account.
Elmendorf Lake Park sits at 3700 W. Commerce St., directly across from Our Lady of the Lake University and within walking distance of the commercial strip along West Commerce Street where the Valero is located, according to the San Antonio Report. The 30-acre park dates back to 1917 and underwent a $15.4 million redevelopment that reopened in January 2017 through a partnership between the city, Bexar County, and the San Antonio River Authority. It also anchors the Apache Creek Greenway, a four-mile paved trail network that connects several historic West Side neighborhoods, public housing developments, and local universities, according to National Recreation Trails.
Part of a Pattern on the West Side
Tuesday's stabbing is at least the fourth outdoor knife attack on San Antonio's West Side that Hoodline has reported on since March. A 47-year-old man was hospitalized after being stabbed near Cuellar Park on August 16, and no arrests were made in that case. Similar stabbings were reported near a Rosillo H-E-B in July, near Horal and Marbach Road in late July, and on the West Side in March, each involving suspects who were sought but not immediately apprehended.
The pattern of sporadic knife violence comes even as San Antonio has posted broad declines in violent crime. Criminologists at the University of Texas at San Antonio reported in July that citywide violent street crime fell 21.1% in 2025, with aggravated assaults dropping 19.8% under the city's data-driven Violent Crime Reduction Plan, according to UT San Antonio. The plan, launched in 2023 by SAPD and academic researchers, relies on hotspot policing and targeted deterrence in high-risk areas. A separate Council on Criminal Justice analysis reported that homicides fell another 8% during the first half of 2026, extending declines that pushed San Antonio's murder rate below pre-pandemic levels, per the San Antonio Report.
What Charges Could Look Like
If police identify and arrest the suspects, Texas law treats an assault involving a knife as aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony carrying two to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 under Texas Penal Code Section 22.02. That classification applies regardless of whether the injury proves life-threatening, since state law separates basic bodily injury from the higher tier of “serious bodily injury,” defined under Section 1.07 as harm creating a substantial risk of death, permanent disfigurement, or long-term organ impairment. Because the victim's wound has been described as non-life-threatening, any eventual prosecution would likely hinge on the use of a deadly weapon rather than the severity of the resulting harm.
KENS 5 said it would continue updating its report as more information becomes available, and it remains unclear what sparked the altercation among the group of men at the park. Police have not said whether the two people detained at the scene will face charges, and no suspects had been named as of Tuesday night.
