SAN ANTONIO – One San Antonio woman said she can still hear gunshots and sirens when she closes her eyes.
“He was pointing the gun at me, so I ducked and I just ran,” she said. “I didn’t want it to happen like that. I knew he needed help, and I was trying to tell everybody.”
She said she called 911 to warn San Antonio police about Odon Paul Bustos. Bustos, 36, was shot and killed by SAPD after the department said he shot at officers first. The shooting happened last Wednesday on the West Side.
The woman asked KSAT 12 not to share her identity because she’s afraid of retaliation and is trying to find a way forward.
“He was knocking on every door and every window, saying, ‘If you don’t come out, I will shoot up these rooms,’” she said.
The woman said she dated Bustos for two years, but broke up with him after he went to jail.
She said she tried to keep her distance after he got out, but still had contact with him. She said last Wednesday, minutes before the shooting, he was looking for her at the Ramada Inn off Highway 90 and West Military Drive.
KSAT 12 spoke to one witness who saw her running from Bustos, who said Bustos was acting frantic.
She said their relationship was abusive, including physical violence, but hopes her story can serve as a warning to other women.
“Get help if you feel it in your gut and you know it’s not right,” she said.
Marta Pelaez, the CEO and president of Family Violence Prevention Services, said situations like this are tragically common.
“Domestic violence is a progressive pattern of power and control behaviors,” Pelaez said.
“It begins with putdowns, name-calling, some threats here and there,” Pelaez continued. “Lethality is at its highest when they leave a relationship an abuser has invested in.”
Data shows that one in three women across the world has been subjected to physical or sexual violence. If you are experiencing abuse like this, help is out there. Click here to see those resources.
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