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Left: Law enforcement respond to a former Knights of Columbus hall where a 21-year-old woman was shot and killed during a rave on March 9, 2024 (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office). Top right: another image of the hall (Google Maps). Bottom right: Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office).
A young Texas woman is dead and a man was wounded from gunfire after a “rave-type party” advertised on social media descended into a state of chaos over the weekend in San Antonio, authorities say.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar says the 21-year-old deceased woman died in particularly sad fashion: visibly dying as gawking onlookers recorded her final moments on their cellular phones.
“That’s about as coldblooded and disturbing as you can get,” the sheriff said at a press conference outside the venue on Saturday. “She’s gasping for air, and they’re videotaping her as she’s dying.”
“It’s pretty disturbing,” Salazar also said. “People sat there and videotaped this little girl as she was dying, taking her last breath.”
The incident unfolded at around 4 a.m. on March 9, in an abandoned building that used to house a chapter of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization, authorities said. The building was not supposed to be occupied at all but had several illegal utility connections to sustain the party, according to the sheriff.
At some point, a “disagreement” erupted between several groups of people at the “packed” event and shots rang out in the repurposed hall, Salazar said. The young woman died at the scene while the second victim, a 29-year-old man, was taken to a nearby hospital.
Law enforcement officials are currently struggling to piece together the night, the sheriff said, because witnesses are not being forthcoming.
“I think we talked to a total of about 20 witnesses who stuck around,” Salazar said. “The vast majority of the people that were here took off before we arrived. And it’s one of those stories — one of those incidents, pretty frustrating for law enforcement — that even though there were plenty of people around, nobody saw anything. Everybody was looking the other way. Somebody was in the bathroom.”
It is unclear if the deceased woman was the intended victim, the sheriff said. The man who was shot was standing in a different part of the building than the woman, Salazar added. The location of both victims means there could have been multiple shooters, Salazar added. But, there also could have been just one person shooting “indiscriminately.”
It is also unclear if the victims knew one another.
“We just don’t know,” the sheriff said.
The victims were shot one time each.
One arrest, so far, had been made in relation to the case as of Saturday morning — but it was of unclear value and relevance. Salazar said one man who returned to the hall after the shooting who was “looking for a cellphone” was arrested on an outstanding, unrelated drug warrant.
Salazar noted the man also had “a handgun” on him when he was arrested. But there is currently no indication or “direct evidence” the arrested man is the shooter, the sheriff stressed.
Authorities are currently poring over video footage of the party posted on a website, the sheriff said. But, investigators want to consult additional videos. The sheriff implored witnesses to come forward by suggesting they would not face legal consequences just because they attended a party that technically wasn’t allowed.
“I know that there’s video out there existing,” Salazar said. “I’m fairly confident that there’s video of it out there.”
Law enforcement also has a flyer for the event, the sheriff said, and they are trying to ascertain who organized the party. Charges could be filed against the organizers, but that is not a priority, Salazar said.
By all indications, there were around 100 hundred people at the party when the woman was shot and killed, authorities believe.
“Just extremely frustrating that a little girl, 21 years of age, is now dead and nobody is able to give us enough information,” Salazar said.
