Category: San Antonio News

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to hammer job markets around the country. But the Alamo City is faring well, clocking in among nine other major metros in the U.S. that have surpassed the number of jobs they had before the pandemic. According to a recent report from the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce that covers the top 50 U.S. metros, from February 2020 to November 2021, the San Antonio area posted a job growth rate of…

A man who was fatally shot while leaving a Northwest Side hookah bar early Sunday has been identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Authorities said Quinton Smith, 28, was shot twice at 3 a.m. Sunday in the 3300 block of West Avenue.

Police said Smith left the bar and walked to his vehicle when someone driving southbound on West Avenue opened fire. The gunman continued to drive southbound on West Avenue.

The hookah lounge’s security called the police and when EMS arrived, the man was taken to University Hospital. He died from his injuries later that morning.

Police are still working to track down the suspect and the investigation continues.

More on KSAT:

Man shot confronting catalytic converter thieves on East Side, police say

A fire that broke out Monday night at a Northwest Side apartment complex rekindled overnight causing even more damage.

During the original fire, which broke out around 7:30 p.m., as many as 20 families were forced out of their homes at the Wurzbach Manor apartments.

Firefighters say the families were not allowed to return even though it appeared the fire was out at that time.

However, around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, fire crews were called back to the complex, located near Wurzbach Road and Gardendale, to put out the fire which had rekindled.

They say the roof’s construction allowed embers to smolder and reignite.

There were no injuries reported.

Firefighters say the displaced families are receiving assistance from the apartment complex’s management and the American Red Cross.

Investigators are still trying to determine how the original fire started.

The San Antonio Police Department and Crime Stoppers want the public’s assistance in tracking down the person responsible for a capital murder.

According to police, on Jan. 9, 2011 officers were called to the Valencia Apartments in the 7800 block of Callaghan Road for a robbery. When officers arrived, they found Daniel Meza, 40, wounded with severe head trauma.

Meza was taken by ambulance to an area hospital, where he died the next day.

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (210) 224-STOP.

Tips can also be texted to CRIMES (274637) or by visiting the Crime Stoppers website.

Crime Stoppers will pay up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest.

A man in his 30s was shot while trying to confront a group stealing a catalytic converter on the city’s East Side, San Antonio police said.

Officers were called around 12:15 a.m. to an apartment complex in the 200 block of Enoch Walk, not far from East Commerce Street, after receiving word of a person wounded.

According to police, the man had walked outside because he heard people messing with vehicles in the parking lot. That’s when, police say, one of the suspects in the group shot the man twice — once in the shoulder and once in the chest.

Police said a friend of the victim drove the man out of the complex and called for help. The man was taken by EMS to Brooke Army Medical Center, where he is listed in critical condition.

SAPD said they searched the apartment complex, but did not find anyone. So far, no arrests have been made.

The San Antonio Police Department, the San Antonio Fire Department and EMS all answered the call.

The investigation is ongoing, police said.

Four will be located in Atacosta County, about nine miles southwest of the nearest town of Christine.

A San Antonio-area community has ranked as one of the hottest neighborhoods in the nation for homebuyers.

One person is dead following a house fire on the city’s North Side late Monday night, the San Antonio Fire Department said.

The fire was called in around 9:45 p.m. at a home in the 1400 block of West Ridgewood Court, not far from West Hildebrand Avenue and Interstate 10.

Firefighters said when they arrived they found flames coming from inside the home. Firefighters made their way from front to back and tried to rescue an elderly woman found in a hallway, but she later died.

Firefighters knocked down the fire without incident. The cause is not currently known. A fire investigation team has since been called in to determine the exact cause.

Neighbors on the street say they heard a boom shortly before the fire.

The San Antonio Police Department, the San Antonio Fire Department, and EMS all answered the call.

The investigation is ongoing, officials said.

With COVID-19 causing so much burnout and illness in the health care field, the question arose — will fewer students choose to go into nursing? Conversations with the deans of two major nursing schools in San Antonio revealed something both encouraging and inspiring.

Austin Chapa graduated from Churchill High School in 2017, knowing he wanted to be a nurse like his mother.

The pandemic hit in the middle of his studies but seeing employee burnout and illness hasn’t scared him away.

“It comes down to really making a difference in people’s lives. It’s really important. It’s really fulfilling,” Chapa said.

It turns out there are many compassionate, driven people out there like Chapa.

KSAT checked in with the University of the Incarnate Word and UT Health San Antonio nursing schools to compare applications before and after the pandemic.

UT Health San Antonio’s applications have more than doubled, from 258 applications in Spring 2020 to 596 in Fall 2021.

UIW is seeing so many applications, and they’ve begun enrolling more students.

“In January, in the last two weeks, we started a brand new class of 93, and that includes 25 students in our new accelerated program for people who have previous degrees. A year ago, we were probably only admitting 62,” said Holly Cassells, the dean of UIW School of Nursing and Health Professions.

Cassells said if she could find enough faculty, she’d increase it more.

“We have faculty retiring. We have faculty moving and transitioning, a lot of it impacted by COVID,” she said.

Part of the capacity also lies in the required training process for nursing students.

“Finding clinical placements for nurses to practice. Over this past year, it’s been very hard because initially, we didn’t put students on units where there are COVID patients. Now we’ve gotten way beyond that. Students take care of all patients now,” Cassells said.

Cynthia O’Neal, the associate dean of Undergraduate Studies at the UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, said the same thing.

“Our students do go into clinical settings and engage with patients in hospital settings and community settings. And because of the pandemic, those opportunities have been restricted in some ways,” O’Neal said.

She said that’s why the program capacity of around 330 students a year has held steady. The nursing school accepts between 110 and 120 students every fall and every spring, and then 90-100 students in the summer.

O’Neal said she couldn’t pinpoint why applications have doubled because when the pandemic hit, they suspended the requirement for an entrance exam due to accessibility. Still, she believes the biggest reason is they’re following their hearts.

“We do have some really compelling stories of students who have lost parents or grandparents during the pandemic,” O’Neal said.

“It’s really amazing that people are willing to accept that challenge and pursue their goals and careers despite how fast things can change,” Chapa said.

Both deans believe the positivity of these young nurses can create hope for a society in much need of healing.

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San Antonio police need the public’s help identifying and locating suspects who they say shot and killed a 21-year-old woman in 2017.

The shooting happened shortly after 11 p.m. on Highway 281 and Stadium Drive on Dec. 2, 2017.

Police say Ditramiq Hawkins was a passenger in a car driving from Foster Road and FM 78. Another car pulled up and began firing multiple shots at the car Hawkins was in, striking and killing her.

Authorities need help identifying the car pictured above and the people who were inside. The car has dark, tinted windows and body damage to the right rear passenger door.

Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (210) 224-STOP. Crime Stoppers will pay up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest.