SAN ANTONIO, Texas – A 50-year-old man who intervened during an attempted theft of his neighbor’s car is now in the hospital after being shot, according to San Antonio police.
Officers found the man on the ground Monday morning outside a home on Farmsville Drive, not far from Marbach Road.
The man was suffering from a gunshot wound in his back, SAPD said.
Upon arrival, officers assisted the man and covered his gunshot wound with a seal, which likely saved him from bleeding out, police said.
Police say the man and his father had confronted two people who were attempting to steal a car around 9 a.m. from a neighbor who lives across the street.
The man, his father, and the would-be car thieves were armed with guns and fired at each other, police said.
The man was wounded in his back. He was in critical condition as he was rushed to a local hospital, police said.
It is unclear whether any of the thieves, who left the area in two separate cars, were wounded during the shooting.
“Honestly, from inside the house, it kind of sounded like something, I don’t know, like somebody hit a piece of metal,” said Bryan Castellon, who realized later that what he heard were gunshots.
Castellon opened his door to the sight of patrol cars rushing into the neighborhood.
Later, he learned the details of what happened.
“Stupid, to put it bluntly,” he said, regarding the thieves' attempt to steal the car in broad daylight.
Nina McCauley owns the car in question and was shocked to find out her neighbor nearly lost his life over it.
“I hope he’s OK. I’ve been praying that, you know, he’s OK,” she said. “The car’s not worth it. Take the car. You can always get another one, you know? You can’t get another life.”
In hindsight, McCauley couldn’t help but wonder whether things could’ve ended differently if she had stuck to her normal morning routine.
She says on any other day, she would’ve been outside at that time, most likely smoking a cigarette.
“Today just happened to be a day that I wasn’t outside. I kind of wish I had been because they wouldn’t have targeted the car,” McCauley said.
Investigators, meanwhile, targeted areas where they believed they might find evidence.
They searched the neighborhood for any possible security video and checked the car for fingerprints.
As of early Monday afternoon, investigators were still looking for the shooters, who got away.