SAN ANTONIO – Neighbors near the West Side bar where officers opened fire on a man Friday night say they were shaken by the violence \u2014 and frustrated by what they describe as repeated dangerous incidents in the area.<\/p>\n
Police say the man had a shotgun concealed inside a duffel bag near Ruiz Street and North San Marcos.<\/p>\n
Video obtained by News 4 San Antonio captures the tense moments as officers surrounded him and repeatedly told him to drop the weapon.<\/p>\n
\u201cKill me, kill me, kill me now,\u201d the man can be heard saying.<\/p>\n
Police said the man continued making distressing comments and refused commands to surrender.<\/p>\n
\u201cKill a blind man, kill a blind man,\u201d he says in the video.<\/p>\n
Officers eventually opened fire after police say the man racked the shotgun and pointed it toward them.<\/p>\n
The man was taken to the hospital in critical condition. The first call came from a nearby convenience store shortly after 9 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n
Neighbors said the scene was extreme, but not entirely unfamiliar.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just really horrifying that it\u2019s so prevalent around here in the 78207 area,\u201d said resident Julia Reyes.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, a man was found dead near the same Kozy Korner bar. Police said he appeared to have been electrocuted after climbing a nearby electrical tower and falling.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething about that little crossroads, it\u2019s always kind of something,\u201d Reyes said.<\/p>\n
Police have not said whether the man involved in Friday\u2019s shooting was experiencing a mental health crisis. But neighbors said the incident renewed concerns about homelessness, mental health and the need for more outreach in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think that is a huge thing that we need here,\u201d Reyes said.<\/p>\n
The National Alliance on Mental Illness held a mental health walk Saturday, joined by SAPD officers. NAMI Greater San Antonio Executive Director Lauren Byrd said resources are available for people and families seeking help.<\/p>\n
The city also has a Crisis Response and Reform unit, created in 2008 to change how officers respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis. News 4 San Antonio asked SAPD whether members of that specialized unit responded Friday night and is waiting for a response.<\/p>\n
Nonprofits including Coraz\u00f3n Ministries said more long-term treatment beds are also needed so people in crisis can receive a higher level of care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO – Neighbors near the West Side bar where officers opened fire on a man Friday night…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-449949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}