SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – A man was shot and killed while committing a crime in the parking lot of a Southeast Side motel, San Antonio police said.
Officers found the man toward the back of property in the 300 block of Roland Avenue shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday.
“This was a drug deal gone bad,” said Police Chief William McManus. “There was a drug transaction being made in the parking lot. Two individuals came up behind him, the dealer.”
McManus said the man who was killed was in the passenger side of a vehicle when the gunmen took him by surprise and shot him.
The man, who was about 30 years old, died the scene.
“We heard, ‘Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!' I thought somebody was knocking on the door,” said Rodney Flemings, a motel guest.
Flemings soon found out his initial thought was wrong when he and his girlfriend heard another round of rapid gunfire.
Man fatally shot by two men in apparent drug deal, SAPD Chief McManus says
“I dove on the floor and then she comes running out of the shower and she runs to the venetian blinds. And she says, ‘There’s a lot of police out there,'"Flemings said.
Police roped off the section of the parking lot during their investigation.
McManus said they also planned to review surveillance video for more clues.
He said the gunmen jumped into a white pickup and drove away.
Flemings was surprised to see the crime scene. He said officers had just left the motel after responding to a different case there.
“It was two or three officers out here right before that happened, because (criminals) have been breaking into people’s stuff,” Flemings said.
This time around, their investigation involved a homicide.