San Antonio, Texas — A second violent rampage was foiled Sunday night when a gunman in Texas opened fire in a restaurant and movie theater.
Police state that at approximately 9:30 p.m., 19-year-old Jesus Garcia began shooting inside of the China Garden Restaurant where he worked. Upon exiting the building, he continued to fire into the air, and also shot at a police car that had responded to a 911 call about the incident.
Garcia then ran across the street to the Santikos Mayan 14 Palace theater. Witnesses state that they heard a number of gunshots going off inside of the theater and were terrified.
“I could have died, you know?” a tearful Megan Roel told local television station KSAT. “I’m glad I’m okay, and I have another day with my son.”
Police outline that an off-duty deputy then followed Garcia into the theater and shot at him four times. Garcia was wounded, but his injuries are not life-threatening.
He will now be charged with attempted capital murder and aggravated assault.
While police do not yet know the motive for the crime, they speculate that Garcia may have been angry with an employee at the restaurant.
“It brings back memories of the other theater shooting and the elementary school shooting,” Cassandra Castillo told the San Antonio Express News, whose son works as a projectionist at the theater. “You only think the worst.”
As previously reported, a string of shootings have broken out over the weekend since Friday’s massacre in Newtown, Connecticut that claimed the lives of 20 children and 6 adults, as well as the gunman and his mother.
At approximately 4 a.m. Saturday, 38-year old Jason Letts was shot dead by police at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama after it was reported that he was walking the hospital with gun. He shot at police and others as they made their way off of the elevator to the fifth floor.
Just 75 miles away, another shooting took place on Saturday morning as shots rang out at a mobile home park in Heflin. Police arrived to find three people dead in one of the trailers. A young child less than two years of age was also discovered wounded and was transported to a local hospital.
The unnamed suspect then led police on a chase, where he crashed his car on a busy highway, shooting at police as he exited the vehicle.
Police state that the man then carjacked another vehicle and took off down the road again, where he eventually crashed and was shot dead by police as he reached for the assault weapon inside the car.
There was also a major scare at a mall in Newport Beach, California Sunday as a man fired at least fifty shots outside of the Fashion Island Mall. No one was hurt in the incident, and bike police took into custody 42-year-old Marcos Sarinana Gurrola of Garden Grove.
“I saw a bunch of people coming and I thought it was a flash mob,” shopper Robert Escatel told station KTLA. “Then [people began] screaming ‘Shooting at Macy’s! Shooting at Macy’s!’ and I was really scared. I’ve never been in a crisis this big before.”
The mall went into lockdown for a time until it felt safe to reopen its doors.
One person was injured during last night’s incident in San Antonio. Reports state that violent acts are on the rise in America, with a string of rampages plaguing much of 2012.
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