SAN ANTONIO – UPDATE 10/4/22 8:50 p.m.: The medical examiner’s office identified the woman late Tuesday night as 25-year-old Novita Brazil.
(Original Story)
Two women who were hit by gunfire sprayed into a home in West Bexar County early Tuesday were not the intended targets of that drive-by shooting, according to Sheriff Javier Salazar.
One woman died after being shot in the face inside the home, located in the 11400 block of Bald Mountain.
The other suffered a gunshot wound to her leg.
Deputies quickly caught up with two teens, who they believe were responsible.
“Fourteen-, 15-year-olds are out doing a drive-by shooting in the dead of night,” Salazar said. “They hit the wrong house.”
The sheriff called the situation, which happened around 12:30 a.m., “heartbreaking.”
He said neither woman had anything to do with the trouble.
“She was in her bedroom, doing some work on her computer and she was shot and killed almost instantaneously,” Salazar said. “The secondary victim was an Airbnb resident, tenant that was staying. Apparently she had just gotten there that night before.”
The two were hit by some of the more than 100 rounds that were fired at the home from a number of different weapons.
In addition to causing death, they also caused visible destruction.
“If you look at the garage door, it’s a pretty poignant scene,” Salazar said. “You can see just rays of light where all of the rounds went into that garage door and punctured it like Swiss cheese.”
Sheriff’s deputies who happened to be in the area had heard two rounds of gunfire, but initially didn’t know where they were coming from, Salazar said.
However, within minutes, the sheriff’s office received a call about a shooting, directing them to the home on Bald Mountain Street.
Salazar said as deputies arrived, one of them noticed a white four-door car speeding away from the area and chased it.
With help from San Antonio police, deputies caught up with the car near Highway 151 and Acme Road and arrested the two teens inside it.
What deputies did not find inside the car were any guns.
They spent several hours searching the area for them.
“It could be that these weapons were thrown into the backyard of one of these houses here. It’s possible that they were dumped along the route,” Salazar said.
A spokesman for the sheriff’s office later confirmed that deputies did find two guns several miles away, near Callaghan Road and W. Commerce Street.
The street where the shooting happened is close to two schools, Scobee Middle School and Big Country Elementary School.
Jennifer Collier, corporate communications officer for the Southwest Independent School District, issued the following notice to parents who have children on those campuses:
“We are aware of police activity near Big Country ES and Scobee MS. The incident in question happened around midnight. We are in communication with law enforcement, and all suspects are in custody. There is no danger to our students. Investigators will be in the area, collecting evidence for a couple of more hours, your students are safe, and school business will continue as usual. Our SWISD PD is also on the scene as an extra precaution.”