SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police and Bexar County sheriff’s deputies are investigating two separate but connected deadly incidents on Saturday morning.
SAPD officers were dispatched to a shooting call shortly after 2 a.m. in the 7000 block of Woodlake Parkway, which is located near Walzem Road on the Northeast Side.
According to an SAPD preliminary report, a suspect opened fire at the home on Woodlake Parkway. When they arrived, first responders found the victim inside the home with multiple gunshot wounds.
Officers said the victim, a 25-year-old woman, was transported to a local hospital. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital, SAPD said. The suspect vehicle fled the scene.
On Saturday evening, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the 25-year-old as Jennifer Rodriguez.
Rodriguez was shot in the torso, the medical examiner’s office’s report revealed.
While more SAPD officers were on their way to the scene, police learned a Bexar County sheriff’s deputy was pursuing the suspect vehicle, the SAPD report stated.
During a Saturday afternoon news conference, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar provided additional details on the subsequent pursuit.
The sheriff said a deputy on patrol in east Bexar County heard gunshots and saw a vehicle fleeing at a high rate of speed.
Salazar said the deputy attempted to make a traffic stop on the vehicle but could not because the vehicle did not stop.
The deputy followed the suspect vehicle as it drove around a parking lot, reentered Walzem Road and sped toward Interstate 35, BCSO said Saturday.
When the suspect vehicle approached the Interstate 35 access road, the suspect lost control and collided with a light pole, the sheriff said.
According to BCSO’s investigation, the crash ripped the door of the suspect vehicle’s driver-side and ejected the driver, a 43-year-old woman, from the vehicle.
The driver was pronounced dead at the crash scene, BCSO and SAPD confirmed.
A 19-year-old passenger in the car, identified by BCSO as Ethan Gonzales, attempted to flee the scene on foot.
Deputies said they caught up with Gonzales shortly after and took him into custody.
The sheriff also said Gonzales is related to the 43-year-old woman but did not disclose how they are related.
According to Salazar, Gonzales was taken to a hospital for further treatment. While hospitalized, Gonzales attempted to flee deputies again. This time, Gonzales was tased in the hospital and brought back into custody, BCSO said.
Gonzales is facing two Bexar County charges: evading arrest on foot and escape from custody, the sheriff said on Saturday.
Gonzales was booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center just after 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. A county judge set his bond for the two Bexar County charges at a combined $20,000.
At the crash scene, Salazar said an “AK-style rifle” with a live round in the weapon was found inside the suspect vehicle. A fully loaded magazine, detached from the rifle, was also found near the crash scene, deputies said.
BCSO also confirmed that there is a connection between the 43-year-old woman killed in the crash and Rodriguez, but Salazar declined to elaborate on that connection.
The sheriff said three deputies have been placed on administrative leave. While the incident is not considered a deputy shooting type of event, Salazar said BCSO likened the pursuit to an in-custody death and will follow its administrative leave protocols in this case.
The sheriff said he believes the deputies followed BCSO’s “all processes and policies” in the pursuit.
The identity of the 43-year-old woman is not yet known.
Salazar said SAPD will lead the investigation into the deadly shooting.
According to SAPD’s preliminary report, officers said they do not know what led up to the shooting.
San Antonio police officers have not yet disclosed if they have filed their own charges against Gonzales.