SAN ANTONIO – A 25-year-old man shot during a Fiesta celebration is hoping to make a quick recovery so he can get back to work and provide for his family.
Omar Rodriguez says he’s eager to recover quickly and return to work with his first child on the way.
Rodriguez was shot in the chest while at the Fiesta de los Reyes celebration at Market Square last Wednesday.
“I take care of the bills. I’m not able to work for a couple of months,” he said.
Rodriguez spoke with KSAT from his hospital bed. He hopes to be back home by the end of the week.
He said a night of Fiesta with his family turned ugly when a couple moving aggressively through the crowd took out a gun. He said a woman bumped into his wife and hit her in the stomach.
“My wife told her, ‘Hey, you need to watch out. I’m pregnant,’” Rodriguez said.
That’s when a brawl broke out. Rodriguez said it all happened so fast.
With his wife, mother and cousin in the crowd, he reacted quickly when he saw a gun.
“All I just saw was a gun raised towards our way. And I pushed my cousins, and then I just remember just feeling the impact in my breath, coming out of my mouth, like a punch to the gut,” Rodriguez told KSAT.
He said he didn’t know he had been shot until he saw the blood on his hands.
The bullet hit him inches from his heart. Rodriguez said he suffered a broken rib, and he has fluid around his lungs, making it difficult to breathe. Doctors have told him it will take several months to heal.
San Antonio police have not yet arrested anyone, nor have they released a description of the shooter.
RELATED ON KSAT.COM
Man shot during Fiesta event at Market Square; partygoers run for safety, police say