SAN ANTONIO – Rolling Oaks Mall reopened Monday after a Sunday robbery gone wrong left a good Samaritan dead and one of two suspects in critical condition.
The shooting has raised the concealed carry issue since one of two good Samaritans was licensed. Police said he fired his weapon, critically wounding one of two armed suspects who allegedly already had shot and killed the other man as he tried to intervene.
Jonathan Murphy, 42, was shot and killed when he tried to stop two armed suspects from robbing Kay Jewelers inside the mall.
Two other innocent bystanders were wounded, possibly by the second suspect as he fled the mall.
“It’s not always great to intervene,” said Millie Devno, who was shopping at Rolling Oaks Mall Monday. “To assess the situation before you jump in there because you could lose your life or cost someone else’s life.”
The shooting did not keep Devno or husband from going to the mall the day after it happened.
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“I was in Iraq in 2004. Hey, this is my country. I’m going to live it,” James Devno, who was in a handgun safety class when Sunday’s shooting began, said.
Ken Lewis, Devno’s gun safety instructor from the National Protective Services Institute, discouraged intervening in an active shooter situation.
“To run away, to avoid an altercation, is always the best, be gone,” Lewis said. “The best way to avoid a fight is to just not be there.”
Another good Samaritan at the scene who was armed shot and wounded the first suspect.
When asked if security had been tightened as a result of the shootings, the mall’s general manager said that customer safety remains a priority and the mall is working closely with SAPD.
One suspect, Jason Matthew Prieto, 34, is in custody. The other suspect remains in critical condition at the San Antonio Military Medical Center. Both are facing capital murder charges.
Police have not ruled out the possibility that there were more suspects involved.