SAN ANTONIO – One day after police called an East Side shooting a "targeted killing in a random location," the police chief said it may have been a case of suicide, not murder.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus discussed crime with a group on the East Side Thursday night, detailing recent killings. McManus specifically addressed a shooting that took place Wednesday at an apartment complex in which senior citizens live in the 4100 block of East Houston.
"That has not been officially ruled, but right now is looking like a suicide. There were a number of shots fired through a door. We believe there was a phone call made to a person living in that residence. The shooter came, fired a number of shots through the door. I can only assume feeling that he may have killed that person, which was kind of what he was coming over to do, he shot himself. So that was not another murder," McManus said.
The victim in that shooting has not been identified. Police and management said the man was not a resident and as far as they know not related to anyone living there.
McManus told the group few, if any, of the crimes in that area are random. The chief has had regular meetings with East Side residents since February following an increase in violent crime. He said since then, police have made more than 700 felony arrests and cleared nearly 300 felony warrants.
Still, McManus said, crime has increased across the city. There have been more than 140 murders in San Antonio in 2016. There were 94 murders in 2015.
"There is a subculture of violence in this country where people just don't give a darn about somebody else's life. We are willing to do just about anything to work with the community to try and stop this, to try and slow this down. As many people as we've arrested, as many people are in jail, it continues. Therefore, I say that we cannot arrest this problem away," McManus said.
McManus said the San Antonio Police Department is working on new initiatives for 2017 he hopes will curb crime.