A confrontation over a stolen truck in San Antonio, Texas, has left one person dead and another in a critical condition in hospital.
The shooting took place at South Park Mall, San Antonio, on Thursday, July 27 after the owner tracked his stolen vehicle to the mall, located at 2300 SW Military Drive.
The owner confronted the man driving his vehicle and a woman passenger, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told a press conference on Thursday. The owner ordered the pair to get out of the vehicle at gunpoint. They were made to sit on the ground beside the truck's tire while police were called.
During the wait, the driver of the allegedly stolen vehicle, described by McManus as a "Ford truck", took out a gun from his waistband and fired at the vehicle owner, wounding him, the police chief said.
The vehicle owner then fired shots in "self defense", according to McManus, killing the suspected thief. McManus said the woman passenger of the stolen vehicle was also injured by a gunshot.
A video posted to Facebook by Fox3Now showed a man lying flat on the ground in the parking lot and a woman with blood on her leg.
Video broadcast by local TV station KSAT showed police and fire vehicles at the scene that had been sealed off by yellow police tape. A man who had been working out at a gym at the mall said users were locked inside for 10-15 minutes during the incident.
McManus said the shooting occurred within "two minute[s]" of the owner calling the police. He did not specify how long it took for police to arrive at the scene.
The driver of the stolen vehicle died in the South Park Mall parking lot, while the female passenger was taken to hospital in a critical condition. The truck owner was also taken to hospital for a gunshot wound. McManus said he believed the owner was in stable condition.
None of the people involved had been officially identified by police as of Friday morning. Newsweek has contacted San Antonio Police via their website for an identity clarification and the condition of those injured.
McManus stressed that currently available information is "preliminary" and could change. He said that while the owner of the vehicle had the "right" to track his stolen truck down, police should be informed and allowed to deal with the case. He said: "While he was trying to recover his property, I guess it could depend on who you ask whether he did the right thing or not.
"Now, we would prefer that [you] call the police before taking that into your own hands, but he did what he felt he needed to do, and we have one dead suspect, and we have a critically wounded passenger who was with the suspect, and we have a wounded owner of the vehicle. Again, he had every right to track his vehicle down," he added.
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