SAN ANTONIO — One man has been shot multiple times after an apartment resident said he was trying to steal his car on the northeast side early Thursday morning, according to San Antonio Police.
The incident occurred at the Artisan Apartments located near Loop 1604 E and O'Connor Road around 3:47 a.m. Thursday.
The man told police he saw someone pulling on car handles and was trying to break into his Kia at the apartment complex's parking lot. Police say, the man went to confront the alleged car thief who then pulled out a gun on the man's girlfriend. The man then decided to head upstairs to grab his gun and shoot the alleged car thief multiple times from his balcony, according to police.
He shot the man in his shoulder, back and buttocks, according to SAPD. He was transported to a local hospital in critical condition.
We asked local attorney Joseph Hoelscher to take a look at this case.
“it’s high likely that the man who was protecting his girlfriend and his car could be charged with a felony, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.” Says Hoelscher
Holscher says if you fire into a public space you could face civil and criminal liability with those rounds, including discharging a weapon in a municipality.
“If she was no longer in danger when he shot then it may not justify his shooting at all. In fact depending on her location and how things sussed out at the time, he may have put her life in danger, and that could have resulted in additional criminal charges.” Says Hoelscher
Hoelscher says there is no duty to retreat in Texas and if your home certainly that’s hard to do.
“But here the gunshots were fired into a public area, so if he and his girlfriend could get away from it and wait for police that would have been the much safer option for everybody.” Says Hoelscher
Police say they are continuing to investigate and are looking to see if there are cameras that may have captured video of the shooting.