SAN ANTONIO – A man is dead and a woman was injured after the owner of a stolen truck shot at them while trying to recover his vehicle on the South Side, according to San Antonio Police Chief William McManus.
The owner tracked his stolen pickup truck to a parking lot at South Park Mall on Thursday afternoon.
Large police scene here at South Park Mall in the parking lot on the Southwest side. Waiting for info from @SATXPolice. We saw several ambulances leaving when we got here, there’s a fire truck in place, several SAPD units. @ksatnews pic.twitter.com/R3Oz8AKWLp
— Leigh Waldman (@LeighWaldman) July 27, 2023
After finding the vehicle, the truck owner ordered the male suspect and his female passenger out of the vehicle at gunpoint and then called the police.
“As they were waiting for police to arrive, the suspect who was behind the wheel of the stolen vehicle produced a handgun and shot the owner of the vehicle,” McManus said.
The chief said the owner returned fire and killed the man in self-defense. The bullets also struck the female passenger who was with the suspect.
“It’s a case, it’s certainly a case of self-defense,” McManus said.
McManus said the woman was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
The owner of the stolen vehicle was also taken to the hospital and was stable, according to the chief.
Rachel Pacheco was coming to the mall with her grandson and cousin before work, she said she is shaken up by what she saw.
“As I turned I see two, one person first laying there in a pile of blood. Then as I panic, and as I was turning I see another person in red,” Pacheco said. “I didn’t expect any of this…to have seen any of this.”
The shooting happened just outside of Fitness Connection where Gregory Castillo was working out.
“Yeah they locked us in there for about 10 15 minutes and then they just had us exit the rear-ended of it,” Castillo said.
McManus said while the owner of the vehicle has the right to take his own property back, he wouldn’t recommend taking justice into your own hands.
“We would prefer that call the police before taking that into your own hands but he did what he felt that he needed to do,” McManus said.
We’ll have updates on the shooting as they become available.