SAN ANTONIO – Soggy, muddy ground may have contributed to an accidental shooting that killed a man on Tuesday morning.
Officers responding to a call about an injured individual at 6 a.m. saw the man lying near a garbage receptacle at the Stratton Place Apartments in the 12400 block of Starcrest Drive, not far from Jones Maltsberger Road.
According to police, he seemed to have been shot in the chest.
Officers discovered a couple of garbage bags and a rifle believed to be his on a nearby grassy area. Investigators interviewed neighbors and family members at the complex and decided that the shooting was accidental.
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According to KSAT 12 News, the man appears to have slipped on the damp, muddy hill while on his way to the dumpster to dispose of his trash.
According to police, he was holding a gun when it fell and inadvertently discharged.
The 58-year-old man, whose identity has not been revealed, died in the hospital.
Although the roped-off murder scene drew attention from neighbors, only a few heard the gunfire.
Breanna Padilla stated that her mother did recall hearing a shot fired from another portion of the apartment building.
Padilla heard screaming from the wounded man. “I saw him over here,” she explained, pointing to the grassy area where the man had fallen. “He yelled for aid, so my brother and I came out. “We were performing CPR on him.
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Padilla said she had no idea what had happened, but she did notice her neighbor was injured. She learned later that he had been shot.
“That’s when we just saw blood on his chest and he, just, like, wasn’t responding,” says Padilla.
Police decided that the gunshot was a freak accident.