SAN ANTONIO – People who live in a far West Bexar County neighborhood where a 65-year-old man was shot early Wednesday said they have had their fill of crime.
They said the shooting was the latest and most violent in what appears to be a series of crimes in the Cobblestone subdivision, located a few miles from Culebra Road and Loop 1604.
Stefan Kaiser told Bexar County Sheriff’s deputies that two men dressed in hoodies approached him around 1:30 a.m. as he sat in his garage drinking.
An incident report stated that Kaiser said the men asked for beer and cigarettes, and when he turned them down, they attacked him. He said he pulled out a gun but they managed to wrestle it away and shot him in the shoulder.
Kaiser was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Hours later, neighbors in the 13200 block of Frogs Leap, expressed their concern about the incident.
“I don't know what happened for him to take out his weapon. But he took out his weapon and they ended up taking it from him and then they shot him,” said Jenny Barnes, a neighbor. "It makes me kind of scared, because sometimes I leave at two or three in the morning, and I got to watch my back now."
Barnes said she doesn’t know why anyone would harm Kaiser, who she describes as a “nice man.”
Another neighbor, who identified himself only as Brian, said the shooting is just the latest in a series of crimes. However, he said the crime wave has mostly been car break-ins. The violence, he said, was completely unexpected.
“We didn't expect anybody to get shot in the neighborhood,” he said. “Some criminals that come in here and actually take it that far and pull a gun and actually shoot somebody. But that's what me and some of my buddies are prepared for. We're prepared to take care of that."
Brian said he is part of a volunteer patrol that formed in the wake of the burglary spree. He said the group plans to step up its security efforts.
"We've had enough of it and we're going to put a stop to it,” he said. “We make sure that we're always armed. We open-carry rifles, and we're loaded up and we're ready to go.”
Sheriff’s investigators are investigating the shooting. According to their report, investigators obtained surveillance video from a neighbor’s camera, but did not find any sign on the men who reportedly shot Kaiser.