San Antonio Police Chief William McManus gathered his entire command staff behind him today to vow to crack down on a spike in gang violence on the city's east side which left a four year old boy dead overnight, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"We will arrest you at some point," McManus said to the gunman. "It may not be today or tomorrow, but we will not stop until we arrest you."
The boy was asleep in his home at Hub and Gay Streets, just south of East Commerce, about midnight this morning when a car drove by and somebody sprayed the home with bullets. The boy was shot in the head and was dead before help arrived. The boy's mother was injured and was taken to the hospital.
McManus says the gunman were probably looking for a known gang member, and he says the shooting may have stemmed from a shooting in the same area earlier in the evening.
"Our officers stopped two vehicles and arrested four individuals," McManus said. "The guns were loaded up with guns and ammunition, so they were coming from or going to a shooting."
McManus says he doesn't know if the spike in gunfire on the east side is the result of gang rivalry, or some type of inter-gang feud.
He says police have resources in the area, and people will be seeing more police in the neighborhood.