SAN ANTONIO – With beers and cigars in hand, Adam Jaramillo wanted to take his friend for a night out at Fiesta.
“He’s actually suffering from cancer,” Jaramillo said. “He’s terminal, so I wanted to show him a good time, and I’m thinking, ‘You know, Fiesta would be good.’”
They spent the night at Market Square for Fiesta De Los Reyes, enjoying the music and the food.
A few hours later, everything changed.
San Antonio police said a gunfight broke out between two men in the middle of the crowd.
“I turn around, I start running, everybody’s scattering and running this way, that way,” he recalls. “And next thing you know, I grabbed my leg. I felt this sharp pain. And I’m just — my brain is saying, ‘Fight or flight. Get out of there.’”
Jaramillo is one of five bystanders shot.
“When you realize you had been shot, what did you do?” asked reporter Daniela Ibarra.
“I kept going. I kept walking, getting out of there,” Jaramillo replied.
An x-ray shows a bullet pierced his thigh and split into three pieces.
“I have this bullet in me, and it’s going to stay in me for the rest of my life,” said Jaramillo.
“Have you been able to sleep well since this happened?” asked Ibarra.
“It’s rough,” he said. “There’s, there’s times, you know. I am talking to somebody too, you know. I’m working on it.”
The deadly shooting is among several incidents involving guns and violence at Market Square during Fiesta 2024.
A fight at Fiesta in 2023 also ended in a shooting.
“If I would have had that warning, if I would have known that if you all would, anybody would have reported that, I wouldn’t have gone,” said Jaramillo, who believes the city should have done more.
His attorney, Stanley Bernstein, agrees.
“The city clearly knew there was a problem, and they weren’t warning the public,” Bernstein said.
KSAT reached out to City of San Antonio spokesman Luke Simons, who shared the following statement:
The City of San Antonio works with event organizers to develop security plans for Fiesta events. The Rey Feo Consejo Educational Foundation and City have agreed that security measures will be enhanced at Market Square next year.
Shortly after the shooting, Chief McManus said guests visiting Market Square at Fiesta next year should expect to have bags checked.
“What do you think about those changes?” Ibarra asked Jaramillo.
“It’s late,” he said. “It’s too late. This (has) already happened. Why didn’t that happen last year with that last shooting?”
Jaramillo said he doesn’t plan to go to Market Square — or Fiesta — again.
He intends to sue the city.