SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police are investigating what they say began as a child custody dispute but then turned into an even bigger mess.
In the end, there had been a shooting, car chase and crash and claims of child abduction.
Police initially received a call about a disturbance involving a gun in the 1000 block of Gillette Boulevard late Sunday night.
However, they say within minutes, it had turned into an actual shooting.
At that scene, officers found a 43-year-old man with five gunshot wounds.
They believe he had tried to intervene in a dispute involving a couple who were fighting over custody of their seven-month-old baby.
During the dispute, police said a friend who had accompanied the baby’s father shot the man who had intervened.
The baby’s father, later identified by SAPD as 18-year-old Kenneth Obaya, then took off with the child, police said.
His friend, a 19-year-old man who has not been identified, was driving a pickup and tried to flee from the police, according to SAPD.
He lost control of the truck and crashed in the 500 block of Gillette, destroying both sides of a vacant duplex. He was taken to University Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The man who was shot was also taken to University Hospital. His condition is unknown at this time.
Police said Obaya returned the child to family and went to the crash scene, where he was arrested.
He was charged with aggravated assault.
Initially, they said they were not sure who fired the shots. However, a police supervisor later identified the friend of the baby’s father as the suspected shooter.
He is also facing charges of aggravated assault.