Security guard, patron who killed each other in shootout at South Side bar identified

Shooting occurred just after 2 a.m. outside River City Saloon

SAN ANTONIOUPDATE: The medical examiner's office identified the security guard killed in the shootout as 21-year-old Brandon Olguin. The other person killed was identified as 26-year-old Jose Covarrubious.

(Previously)

Two people are dead, including a security guard, after a shootout outside a South Side bar early Friday morning, San Antonio police said.

Officers responded just after 2 a.m. to the River City Saloon in the 1400 block of Southwest Military Drive after receiving reports of a shooting.

When officers arrived, they found one man dead between two parked vehicles and another with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. They found the security guard near the front doors of the establishment with someone applying pressure to his gunshot wound.

Emergency medical services arrived and transported the security guard and the man with the gunshot wound to Brooke Army Medical Center, where the security guard was pronounced dead.

Police said they believe there was an argument at the bar in which the security guard intervened. 

The man found dead by officers produced a gun, and he and the security guard exchanged fire, police said.

All three men were struck by the gunfire.

Police said they believe the man with the gunshot wound to the abdomen may have been a bystander injured by the exchange of gunfire. However, that man is listed as a suspect pending further investigation. 

Family members showed up to the scene the morning of the shooting, devastated by their loss.

"A family lost their husband, their father. It's sad," a frequent bar patron of River City Saloon, who didn't want to be named, told KSAT.

He says it's tragic that two men died over an argument. 

The father of one of the men who died told KSAT that he got a text from his son around 9 p.m. Thursday saying he was going to come see him at his house. His son never showed up. Instead, his son came to River City Saloon.

The bar patron said this is not the first time a shooting has taken place at the South Side location, calling it a trouble spot. 

"It's the reason why this bar has changed its name so many times, switched so many owners because it continues to happen over and over again," he said.

He says it's sad that something like this fatal triple shooting had to happen in his neighborhood.

"It's upsetting because this is the side of town I'm from," he said. "And it's just hard because I know a lot of people that come here. I know the security and the people who come here. It sucks that something like that had to happen."

 


About the Authors:

Ben Spicer is a digital journalist who works the early morning shift for KSAT.

Sarah Acosta is a weekend Good Morning San Antonio anchor and a general assignments reporter at KSAT12. She joined the news team in April 2018 as a morning reporter for GMSA and is a native South Texan.