SAN ANTONIO – Pedro Flores III may have quick reflexes to thank for saving his life when a gunman shot him during an early morning robbery on the Northwest Side.
His father, Pedro Flores Jr., said his 37-year-old son came with inches of being killed.
"When the individual pointed the gun at him, he turned sideways so it bounced off the bone here," he said pointing to his clavicle, "and traveled to the right-hand side."
The bullet, he said, lodged in his son's shoulder. As of noon Friday, the younger Flores was in stable condition at University Hospital.
San Antonio police said he was shot by a man who had approached him around 1 a.m. Friday, as he and his wife stood outside his tow truck which was parked near Callaghan Road and Flynn Drive.
Pedro Flores Jr. said his son, who drives a tow truck for Mission Towing, had just finished working and was locking up his vehicle.
"Securing all the tools on his truck when this happened, and his wife was with him," he said.
According to a police report, the gunman had approached the tow truck driver first, then turned toward his wife. He was shot trying to protect her, the report stated.
Flores said his son tried everything to get the robber's attention off of his wife.
"(The robber) wanted his money. And he says, 'Well, I got it over here,' so he can lure him away from his wife," Flores said. "So he moved him away from her and that's when he told him, 'Hey, I don't have the money.'"
After the shooting, the robber ran from the scene and was last seen heading toward Culebra Road, police said.
Officers searched the area on the ground and from a helicopter, but did not find the gunman right away.