SAPD says a shooting stemmed from road rage, but a key witness disputes that, saying the man returned to the home and stepped onto the property before shots rang out
SAN ANTONIO — A deadly shooting outside a north-side home continues to raise questions after a key witness came forward, challenging police claims that the incident stemmed from road rage and insisting the suspect opened fire to protect his family.
San Antonio Police were called Monday evening to Bel Air Drive near Silver Oaks, across from Larkspur Elementary School, for reports of a shooting. Officers found a 58-year-old man dead inside his car with gunshot wounds. Investigators said the confrontation began as a road-rage dispute and that the driver followed 23-year-old David Flores Oyervidez III back to his home, where gunfire was exchanged. Oyervides was detained at the scene and later charged with murder.
But a witness who says he was in the driveway when shots were fired told KENS 5 the sequence of events was not road rage — and that the man who died had returned to the home before the confrontation escalated.
“I witnessed everything.”
The witness, a friend and coworker of Oyervidez, said he was sitting in the passenger seat of Oyervides’s car and saw the entire encounter unfold “from just feet away.”
“We were going to go relax at his house after work,” he said.
He said that as they drove past Larkspur Elementary — which sits next door to Oyervides’s home — they noticed a car pulled partly into the roadway.
“Kind of halfway in, halfway out,” he said. “So we just went around him. No honking, no nothing.”
According to the witness, that car then pulled in behind them.
“A female was driving and a male — the one who shot at us — was in the passenger seat at the time,” he said.
The men pulled into Oyervides’s driveway, and the other car kept driving. The witness said the pair went inside for about 10 minutes. When they came back out to sit in Oyervides’s car and listen to music, they saw the same car return and park in the street. This time, the man from the passenger seat was behind the wheel.
“He made mean faces toward us and got out of his vehicle and began to come onto my friend’s property,” the witness said.
He also said the man gestured down the road — toward the spot where they first passed each other.
Moments later, he said the man reached for a gun.
“Reaches into his back waistband, pulls a gun and puts it in the air and says, ‘Oh I guess we’re both gonna die today,’” he said. “At that point, they start exchanging gunfire.”
The witness took cover inside the car as bullets “riddled” the vehicle. He said both men’s guns appeared to jam, so he ran toward the back of the property.
“That’s when I hear a bunch more shots,” he said.
“I asked my friend, ‘Are you OK?’ He said he was fine. I asked, ‘Where did the guy go?’ He said, ‘He left.’ I got in my car and left — I got kids and a family,” he said. “He came back once before. Who’s to say he wouldn’t come back again?”
The witness said there was no indication of road rage until the other driver returned to the home.
“If it was road rage, we wouldn’t have even stopped at my friend’s house,” he said. “Without my friend being armed, I don’t think I’d be here today.”
He told KENS 5 he shared everything with police.
Family: “We fear for our lives.”
Oyervides’s grandmother, Esmeralda Zapata, said her grandson had every reason to protect the people inside the home.
“His wife was there. His child was there — his 7-month-old baby,” she said.
She said Oyervidez has endured significant trauma in recent years.
“He lost his two children and his mother in a fire two and a half years ago,” she said. “That’s the passion of his life: saving his children, saving his wife.”
Zapata said the family has since moved out of the home because they fear retaliation.
“We are afraid for our lives, yes we are,” she said. “It is self-defense. You’re gonna do what you’ve gotta do to protect your family.”
Attorney: Evidence may support self-defense
KENS 5 brought the witness account and available police information to criminal defense attorney Joseph Hoelscher, who said the facts may align with Texas self-defense law.
“In Texas, you don’t have a duty to retreat if somebody is threatening you,” Hoelscher said. “That’s more true when you’re standing your ground on your own property or inside your home.”
He said several factors could support a self-defense argument, including:
- The alleged gun jam
- The man returning to the house after an earlier encounter
- The family members inside the home
- The possibility the shooter could have retrieved another weapon or used his vehicle as a weapon
“At any point, if somebody is placing you in a reasonable fear for your life or the safety of other people — such as people inside the home — Texas allows people to defend themselves or others,” Hoelscher said.
He added that if Oyervidez believed the man was preparing to continue the assault, “he would be justified in using deadly force to stop that threat.”
Hoelscher said one challenge in any self-defense case is determining whether the threat had ended — but the alleged sequence of the man returning, initiating an armed confrontation, and attempting to leave in the vehicle raises additional questions.
“You don’t know what they’re doing with that vehicle,” he said. “Is this guy gonna use the car as a weapon? Ram the house? It’s not necessarily clear from the homeowner’s perspective that he was fleeing.”
Based on what has surfaced so far, he said, “it’s quite possible that the charges could be dropped.”
Hoelscher also noted that early police information is often preliminary, saying law enforcement frequently releases details before all facts are confirmed.
SAPD says the shooting remains under investigation and information could change as detectives continue to gather statements and evidence.
Oyervidez remains charged with murder.