Gina Martinez says her son was hit by a bullet that came straight out of the air just a few minutes into the new year. SAPD is investigating.
SAN ANTONIO — Family says 9-year-old Sebastian Rodriguez was siting on his front porch watching his loved ones ring in the new year. The boy didn’t like the loud noise so his mother says he had his headphones on as the others played with sparklers and other fireworks.
Just a minutes into the new year, his mother, Gina Martinez, says she heard him scream and run inside.
“I ripped his pants open and you could see something penetrated his leg,” Martinez said. “It didn’t look like a burn. It was just open.
The mother called 911 and an ambulance rushed the boy to a hospital. Martinez said doctors found a bullet an inch deep in his leg.
“It was horrible. I can’t even explain the feeling of knowing your 9-year-old son was shot,” Martinez said.
The mother said the family spent the next 10 hours at the hospital. Luckily, she said the bullet had missed the child’s bones and arteries. She says he is now recovering at home.
“He’s like, ‘Mom, I don’t want to go outside,’” she said. “He was afraid to go outside and said next year we aren’t celebrating New Year’s.”
SAPD released a preliminary report Thursday morning that stated the incident occurred at 12:06 a.m. It confirms officers arrived and found a 9-year-old with a gunshot wound.
Police did not arrest anyone at that time. The report listed the case is an assault with a deadly weapon.
Martinez said she did remember hearing gunshots for several minutes after the new year arrived. She still doesn’t understand why.
“You could just hear the gunshots from blocks away. You just don’t think that’s going to be like that. You’ve got to be responsible,” Martinez said. “Then just out of the blue he gets struck in the leg.”
Now, exhausted and frustrated, Martinez said she wants whoever fired the weapon to be held accountable. She said the hospital has provided the bullet to the police department.
At the same time, the mother wonders if the person who fired the bullet has any idea that a child was harmed.
“Something terrible like this happens and they don’t even know. They don’t even know this happened to my son just from being reckless,” Martinez said. “And it could be a lot worse. We could be having a totally different conversation.”