“He seemed like a good kid. I never saw him causing any trouble with anybody,” said one neighbor about Lamarcus Willis.
SAN ANTONIO — The victim of a deadly drive-by shooting Wednesday was killed less than a month after his 16th birthday.
Thursday, the Bexar County Medical Examiner identified the boy as 16-year-old Lamarcus Willis.
The shooting took place steps away from the entry gate at The Summit at Lookout Enclave, a small neighborhood near Topperwein and Lookout Road on San Antonio’s northeast side.
Witnesses reported seeing two individuals flee from a black car parked near the entrance gate of the complex shortly after the gunfire erupted. Residents are confident the surveillance footage from the entrance to the neighborhood could provide crucial information to investigators working to solve the case.
A witness who lives in the neighborhood described hearing four loud gunshots. He looked outside and saw Willis, slumped against a fence, and immediately recognized him as his 16-year-old neighbor. The witness, who asked to remain anonymous, said he rushed outside to help, finding a woman in the car outside the gate.
“I yelled at her and said, ‘Hey, won’t somebody call 911? Why isn’t anybody calling 911?’” the witness recalled. The car, he later realized, looked familiar — it was the same black car the shooters had been in.
Neighbors quickly sprang into action, with some performing CPR while others applied pressure to Willis’ gunshot wounds. Despite their efforts, Willis succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.
“I saw several gunshot wounds on his body,” said the witness. “He wasn’t verbally responding, but he made eye contact with me.”
The neighborhood, which residents describe as generally peaceful, has been shaken by the senseless tragedy. Residents say a stray bullet pierced a nearby home where children live. No one inside that home was hurt.
Willis’ neighbors are remembering him as a friendly and smiling young man, devastated by the loss of someone who was just beginning his life.
A makeshift memorial now sits outside the neighborhood — a picture of Willis sitting front and center.
“He seemed like a good kid. I never saw him causing any trouble with anybody,” said one neighbor. “Nobody should lose their life for senseless reasons, especially a kid who hasn’t lived his life yet.”
Police are continuing their investigation and are urging anyone with information about the shooting or the suspects to come forward.
