SAN ANTONIO — Jaque says she wasn’t home Friday night when one of her neighbors was arrested and charged for shooting a man on Wild Turkey West Street.
She says the neighborhood off Thousand Oaks was abuzz with the news.
But when Jaque learned that 52-year-old Mark Anthony Wong was also charged with murder, accused of strangling a man once he was taken to jail, the shock she expressed turned to tears.
Choking with emotion, Jaque said “I didn’t know about the strangulation!”
The woman, who has lived on the block for years, says the shooting report did not come as a surprise.
“The shooting? No. The strangulation? Yes! Oh dear God, what the hell?” Jaque said, continuing “Now I’m really, really glad he’s gone because it could have been me!”
Jaque said she has been threatened by Wong in the past, and San Antonio Police calls for service indicate they were called to the location in January for that alleged assault.
Eddie, who says he has been doing handyman work on the block for years, says Wong has been causing problems for residents for a long time.
He said a dispute over neighborhood cats caused Wong to push a neighbor hard enough to make her fall.
“He knocked down some elderly lady down the street and the cops came but he didn’t get arrested and that was surprising,” Eddie said.
Because he is often working outside, Eddie says the neighbors have been telling him about their concerns.
“He’s spooked a lot of elderly women especially, sneaking up on them,” Eddie said, adding “He’s got a very violent temper and he even threatened me.”
Still, until Friday night, court records indicate Wong has never been arrested in Bexar County.
San Antonio Police were called to Wong’s home around 11:30 pm for a shooting.
Officers found a 38-year-old man in the back yard of the home with several gunshot wounds.
The initial report from the scene indicates they found Wong on the front porch unloading both a shotgun and a revolver. Wong told the officers he had allowed the younger man to stay at his home for a couple of days, but an argument turned violent and he shot the man.
After questioning, police charged Wong with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Police have not released any further information about the shooting victim or his current condition.
An affidavit for a murder arrest warrant claims when Wong was being processed into the Bexar County Jail on the shooting allegation, he attacked 66-year-old Curtis Raymond Smith. The jail assault happened about twelve hours after the shooting incident, according to records.
Court records indicate Smith was in the jail as a result of not abiding by the terms he was given for a probated sentence on a two-year-old domestic violence charge.
The affidavit details that the two men, and a third inmate, were together in a booking holding cell and that another inmate nearby alerted jail staff to a problem. The affidavit reads “Wong was heard yelling ‘I had to strangle him because he tried to rape him.’”
Smith was found face down and unresponsive on the floor of the cell, and the affidavit states Wong told investigators he twisted a bandana around the victim’s neck until he was unconscious and appeared dead.
The affidavit reads: “I asked Wong if Smith ever tried to rape him, touch him or harm him and he stated no.”
As of Monday afternoon, the Bexar County Medical Examiner had yet to release a cause and manner of death for Smith.
Meanwhile, Wong remains jailed on bonds totaling more than one million dollars.