SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police said a mother brought her teenage son to an apparent retaliation shooting on the Northeast Side late last month.
Jennifer Marie Rodriguez, 25, was killed Jan. 25 after roughly 30 rifle rounds were pumped into a home at a mobile home community in the 7100 block of Woodlake Parkway, which is located near Walzem Road.
Rodriguez’s mother and boyfriend were also inside the home but were not hit.
According to newly obtained court and police records, Rodriguez had recently had a knife fight with Priscilla Gaiton, 43, who died in a car crash fleeing Bexar County sheriff’s deputies after the shooting.
Gaiton’s son, Ethan Gonzales, 19, tried to run from the crash but was later caught.
An AK-style rifle was found in the vehicle’s passenger area, which is where deputies saw him exit. San Antonio police said testing later matched the weapon to casings found at the scene.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said Gonzales was also tased when he tried to escape custody again at the hospital.
The 19-year-old is free on $470,000 worth of bonds on the condition of a full house arrest. He faces a murder charge, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, evading arrest and escape from custody.
November knife fight
An SAPD incident report names Rodriguez as the suspect in a Nov. 19, 2024, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Rodriguez told police that after she and Gaiton had argued over the phone, Gaiton showed up at her front door in Woodlake Estates, knocking on the door and yelling.
Rodriguez said she tucked a kitchen knife into her waistband before answering the door.
Though Rodriguez told police things weren’t physical at first, she said Gaiton pulled her mother out of the house as she was closing the door and took out a pocket knife. Rodriguez said she grabbed her knife and stepped out to protect her mother.
Rodriguez told police that Gaiton cut her with the pocketknife and showed police a “very thin cut on her right wrist along with old scars on her forearm matching the same length and width of the cut that was reported to (the officer) by (Rodriguez).”
Rodriguez said she slashed in the direction of Gaiton and another female but did not know if she had cut anyone.
Police determined Rodriguez was not a victim in the incident, but rather the aggressor and suspect. However, KSAT did not find an arrest on that charge in Bexar County court records.
After the shooting, Rodriguez’s mother told investigators her daughter had stabbed Gaiton during the fight.
Rodriguez’s boyfriend told investigators he got a call from Gaiton after the stabbing incident. He believed Gonzales was going to retaliate and warned Rodriguez.
It is unclear how far back the animosity extended. Rodriguez’s boyfriend told police they knew Gonzales and his family, who had been to the location of the shooting before “to party” with Rodriguez’s family.
Shooting and Car Chase
SAPD officers were dispatched to the shooting call at Woodlake Estates shortly after 2 a.m. on Jan. 25.
Court and police records indicate the home was likely the same one where the stabbing had happened.
When they arrived, first responders found Rodriguez inside the home with multiple gunshot wounds. She was rushed to the hospital where she was pronounced dead at 2:49 a.m.
There were approximately 30 rifle casings found in the street in front of the house and several bullet holes in the home, investigators wrote in Gonzales’ arrest paperwork.
Sheriff Salazar said a gang unit deputy was patrolling nearby and heard the shots. The deputy then saw a car speeding away from the area, which she tried to pull over.
The car drove around a parking lot but didn’t stop, Salazar said. The driver, who was later determined to be Gaiton, sped down Walzem Road toward Interstate 35 before losing control and hitting a light pole.
Salazar said the driver’s door appeared to have been sheared off, and Gaiton was thrown from the vehicle.
The crash happened less than three miles from the shooting.
SAPD investigators wrote in Gonzales’ arrest paperwork that Gonzales “and his mother were possibly retaliating against (Rodriguez) due to a prior conflict.”
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