Gun shell casings from two separate shootings helped connect three teens to a recent shooting at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.
On Aug. 17, suspects shot at the JBSA Lackland training annex at 2:55 a.m. and at 4:52 a.m. Security officers returned fire on the shooters; There were no injuries.
Officials said during a press conference Wednesday that Joseph Jimenez, 19, and Ricardo Samaniego, 18, were arrested for deadly conduct with a firearm. Elijah Martinez, 19, was also arrested for endangering a child during a separate shooting.
The vehicle that witnesses reported seeing on Medina Base Road at JBSA matched the description of a stolen vehicle. It was later recovered unoccupied, but ballistic evidence from a separate shooting at a child’s birthday party that evening on Marbach Road connected those gun shell casings to the ones found near JBSA.
Suspects were allegedly handling a gun with a switch when Samaniego was shot while holding an infant, who was unharmed. Martinez and Jimenez fled the scene with the weapon, but it was later recovered at a storage unit, said Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar.
On Aug. 21, technology linked the shell casings. Jimenez, Samaniego and Martinez were arrested after search warrants were executed, some of which resulted in finding more weapons and illegal substances, officials said.
After the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office conducted an investigation into the separate accidental shooting, video evidence revealed that Jimenez and Samaniego worked together to shoot in the direction of homes near JBSA, said SAPD Chief William McManus.
Jimenez and Samaniego remain in custody and more state and federal charges may be pending, McManus said. Jimenez is awaiting federal indictment for an illegal switch he added to a tan GLOCK 19 used to fire at the JBSA gate.
The San Antonio Police Department worked with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ATF and Texas Department of Public Safety to identify the suspects connected to the shooting.
Salazar said officials haven’t been able to link the teens to another shooting that happened Aug. 18, the day after the JBSA shooting, where suspects shot again near Lackland in the direction of naval dorms.
No injuries or damages were reported. Report any leads at 210-335-6000.
Juvenile felonies have trended upward in recent years. Across Bexar County, teens with guns and stealing vehicles have also been on the rise, as have gun switches.
