San Antonio police found illegal guns, an underground street fighting ring and illegal alcohol sales at an unlicensed establishment in a Westside strip mall on Saturday.
The San Antonio Police Department had been conducting surveillance on the establishment since November, investigating reports from nearby residents of suspicious late-night activity.
The reports included sounds of gunfire, the presence of long AR-style rifles, underage drinking, fist fights in the backyard and people believed to be security officers wearing bulletproof vests.
“This is kind of jarring for someone to see right outside of their neighborhood,” said SAPD Sgt. Washington Moscoso.
The shopping area is located across from Lackland Air Force Base, wedged between an auto shop and a restaurant.
Moscoso said police have found evidence posted to social media of “UFC-style fights” happening in the back of the establishment with a referee.
The front door of the establishment bears a small image of a pair of boxing gloves, but nothing is visible from the outside in; the windows are all blacked out.
A bullet hole can be seen on the front door from the weekend’s gunfire from the bust was still there on Tuesday as El Coqui Puerto Rican restaurant served platanos maduros to large groups of people in military uniform next door.
Bexar County property details Oscar Merlo Jr. as the owner of Supreme Boxing Promotions. On Friday, a person by that name on Facebook posted, “9/3 is not shutting down… even if they ever did shut me down, I’ll just go open another spot and another spot and another spot…”
The SAFFE neighborhood officer assigned to the area escalated photo and video evidence of suspected criminal activity to the police department’s Dangerous Assessment Response Team, or DART unit, which addresses a problem at a building if there are enough complaints.
Moscoso said the SAPD Covert and Texas Anti-Gang units began a surveillance operation on Feb. 28. Right away, investigators noticed weapons.
Police followed a vehicle they had identified as belonging to a suspect involved with the club from the strip mall to IH-410 and Old Pearsall Road, until the suspect exited the vehicle and pointed a weapon toward officers. Detectives fired toward the suspects. No one was struck. After a foot pursuit, two people were arrested, Moscoso said.
On Saturday, SAPD arrived at the establishment with visible police presence to deter people from going inside. A detective walked toward the front door when shots were fired toward police officers. Police believe there were less than 10 people inside.
An officer saw a suspect with a firearm exit the back door and ordered him to drop the gun, but the suspect raised the weapon in the direction of the officer, according to a preliminary report.
The officer shot the suspect, and the injured suspect reentered the establishment with the weapon to barricade himself inside. He exited several hours later and was transported by EMS to the hospital in stable condition, according to the report.
While he barricaded himself, about five other people came out of the building until he was the lone occupant.
A 28-year-old man was arrested and booked on a felony warrant for a weapons charge, and the second suspect was still in the hospital being interrogated as of Tuesday. SAPD hasn’t yet released the names of those arrested.
Posts about the bust on Facebook garnered comments from people who weren’t surprised the illegal activity went on for so long.
“If individuals have concerns in their neighborhood or if there’s a business in their neighborhood that’s a nuisance, call the police. If there’s a pattern and if there’s a persistent problem, it will escalate and we will look into it,” Moscoso said.
