More than four years after David Rodriguez survived a bullet to the head outside a Northeast Side pub, the man who shot him has been sentenced to 12 years in prison on each of two felony counts.
Keith Lamane Henley, 49, pleaded no contest Wednesday to two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Court records show Judge Frank J. Castro denied deferred adjudication and imposed a 12-year prison term on each count.
The shooting happened May 14, 2022, outside Sir Winston’s Pub at 2522 Nacogdoches Road.
According to a San Antonio police report, an argument and fight broke out inside the pub. A witness told investigators the shooter threatened to return with a gun before retrieving a handgun equipped with an extended magazine and firing at people outside.
Surveillance video shows Henley leaving the pub with a woman, arguing with men standing outside, then walking to his vehicle. He then turns back and crosses the parking lot carrying a handgun.
The woman is seen trying to calm Henley and guide him back toward the vehicle. At least one man near the pub’s entrance draws a gun as Henley approaches.
People begin ducking as Henley opens fire toward the front door. The woman continues trying to pull him away, but Henley keeps firing.
During another burst of gunfire, a bullet strikes Rodriguez in the head. He falls backward onto the concrete.
Police said more than 50 gunshots rang out during the confrontation.
Rodriguez’s wife, Gloria Aguirre, said Henley used Rodriguez’s truck as cover as he continued shooting.
“He could have left, and he didn’t,” Aguirre said.
A second victim, Nathaniel Luke Greene, was shot in the abdomen and survived.
Rodriguez was rushed into emergency surgery with critical head trauma.
“Having that bullet go in his head and come out through the back, knowing he’s still here with us and he lived,” Aguirre said. “They didn’t think he was going to live.”
Rodriguez survived, but he is now paralyzed on his left side. His family said his shoulder was also severely damaged when he fell onto the concrete.
“It looks like a puzzle, and they can’t put it back together,” Aguirre said.
The initial police report listed the shooter as unidentified. Investigators later received an anonymous tip identifying Henley and the woman who was with him. Henley was arrested in October 2022.
Rodriguez still does not understand why he was shot.
“It was horrible,” he said. “I still don’t know to this day why he shot us. That’s what gets me mad and upset. To this day, I still don’t know why he did it.”
Rodriguez had been attending a bike-night fundraiser for a motorcycle club member battling cancer. He said he has been a member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club for 14 years and described his fellow members as his friends and brothers.
Aguirre said club members helped the family raise money for a wheelchair-accessible van and have continued visiting Rodriguez and supporting the family financially.
“They helped us raise money to get the van so I could take him around,” she said. “They still come and hang out with David.”
Before the shooting, Rodriguez worked as a welder and owned a business. Aguirre said his work took him to places including China and Aruba. He was the person his family counted on to make things happen.
Rodriguez’s daughter, Jessyka Aguirre, recalled how he organized and paid for the family’s annual Labor Day camping trips to celebrate Gloria’s birthday.
“David would just take care of it and make sure it happened,” she said. “Everything was taken care of for all of us to go as a family and enjoy it. All of that has stopped.”
Rodriguez now needs help with daily activities, but he encourages his wife not to put her own life on hold.
“He tells me, ‘I don’t want you just sitting here with me. I feel like you’re waiting to die. You need to live your life. Go with your friends. Go out,'” Aguirre said.
When she returns, Aguirre tells Rodriguez about the people she met.
“I come back and I show him, ‘Look, these are our old friends. These are our new friends,'” she said. “It’s hard. It really is hard.”
“When this happened, our whole world just crashed,” she added.
Wednesday’s sentencing hearing marked the first time Aguirre watched the surveillance video showing the exact moment her husband was shot. Henley was sitting in the same courtroom.
Aguirre said Rodriguez addressed Henley directly, telling him, “I told you to leave. I don’t understand why you had to shoot.”
“We asked him in court, ‘Why? Why did you do that?'” Aguirre said. “He changed our lives. Not just his, all of our lives.”
Jessyka Aguirre said the plea agreement capped Henley’s punishment at 12 years. She told Henley during the hearing that the punishment could not compare with the permanent consequences her father faces.
“Twelve years wasn’t long enough because eventually he’ll walk out of prison, and my dad will never walk again,” she said. “It doesn’t amount to the same long-term pain and suffering David has to go through daily.”
Because of the deadly weapon finding, Henley generally must serve half his sentence before he can first become eligible for parole. Eligibility does not guarantee his release.
Gloria Aguirre said the punishment was not what the family had hoped for, but the hearing finally closes the court case and allows them to begin moving forward.
“We did get our justice,” she said. “It’s not what we expected, but we did get our justice.”