SAN ANTONIO — A 24-year-old man is facing charges after investigators said he shot a father and his 7-year-old daughter early Sunday morning on the far west side.
The young girl was hospitalized in critical condition. The father’s injuries were non-life threatening.
Investigators said it started when the father and his partner had a domestic disturbance and the suspect, who is their neighbor, intervened. This happened off Bratton Drive just after midnight Sunday.
At some point, police said the suspect fired off a shot towards the father but ended up striking the young girl in the chest. The father was grazed in the shoulder, according to authorities.
Maria Alvarado lives across the street. She said she first called 911 when she heard the couple arguing outside.
“I had a gut feeling,” Alvarado said. “God was telling me to call, just in case, call.”
Alvarado was told police were on the way. But shortly after getting off the phone with dispatch, she saw her neighbor go over to the couple’s house to break up the fight, but he had a gun. She said their two young children were also outside.
“I closed my curtain and by that time, I heard a gunshot go off and a few seconds later, I heard, 'You shot my daughter, you shot my daughter,'” Alvarado said.
Alvarado said she ran over to get her mom, Aja Stillwater, who is a home health nurse.
“I run across the street,” Stillwater said. “I see the dad with the baby girl over his shoulder and she’s slumped, lifeless.”
Stillwater said she could not feel a pulse, so she started performing CPR.
“She finally gasped for air,” Stillwater said.
She said the young girl lost consciousness again but fortunately paramedics arrived just in time to take her to the hospital.
“By the grace of God, that little girl survived,” Stillwater said.
Police eventually arrested the neighbor on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Stillwater said she spoke with the young girl’s mother who told her, the girl is going to be okay.
“But to see an innocent child, it breaks my heart,” Stillwater said. “A senseless crime is what caused this. Something between adults should never have hurt a child ever.”
The suspect has been identified as 24-year-old John Alderete, who has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.