SAN ANTONIO – In the middle of the afternoon Wednesday, the shopping center on Stahl Road next to Madison High School became a crime scene. As soon as a shooting was reported around 3 p.m., Madison High School was put on lockdown as a precaution.
Police said two men, who are not high school students, got into a fight, and one shot the other in the head. One witness said it all happened quickly.
"I was talking to the victim, and I just saw some random guy come up, and he had a gun. He pistol whipped him twice, and the second time he pistol whipped, the shot fired," he said.
Police said the bullet went about a half inch into his skull but, luckily, just grazed him and didn't go through his head. He was taken to San Antonio Military Medical Center and is expected to live.
"I have no idea why he came up, who the person was or anything. I was just in total shock," the witness said.
Police said it may have been a drug deal gone bad and are still looking for the suspect. They said they have his name and are tracking him down.
"It's the same group of kids that's always here," said Charlie James, who works at the barbershop in the shopping center.
Once the chaos was over, he and other employees in the shopping center vented their frustration.
"It's a constant problem out here," James said. "The cops have been called numerous times."
The barbershop where James works is just a few stores down from the restaurant a big group has made their hangout spot. He said a lot of them are high school kids.
At the barbershop, they have a straight view of where all these kids hang out. They said they see fights all the time.
James even took a video took last month of a big fight in the same spot. About 100 kids were gathered around the people fighting. He said the group was egging it on.
"Police was called prior to that, the fight took place, the little girl was all beat up and bloody," James said.
He said in that one week alone, there were five fights. KSAT pulled up a crime tracker of the area, which showed some assaults have been reported in this area within the last year.
James the situation is costing him clients, who don't want to be around the violence.
"We understand kids want to hang out, but when you're causing problems and you're fighting, you're running off customers, and that's affecting people's businesses," he said.
He said lots of people should be responding to the violence differently.
"Parents, you need to know where you're kid's at. The school is involved as well. They have cameras. They see the kids come over here. And most of all the police. That's what their job is to keep everybody safe," he said.
If anyone has any information about the shooting Wednesday, call San Antonio police.