Boy, 14, Shoots Three at Texas MLK, Jr. Event

SAN ANTONIO --

A 14-year-old boy shot into a crowd of people near an event celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy, wounding three people, police said.

A 21-year-old woman, an 18-year-old woman and a 13-year-old boy were injured in the shooting, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said. Their injuries were not considered to be life-threatening.

The boy was arrested and faces three counts of aggrevated assault with a deadly weapon, McManus said. It's unclear if prosecutors will charge the teen as an adult.

"Those victims were not the intended targets," McManus said. "They just ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

McManus said the shooting was the result of an altercation between rival gangs that had gathered at a Church's Chicken parking lot at the intersection of Nevada and South New Braunfels. Witnesses told investigators gang members were flashing signs at each other shortly before a scuffle broke out.

The shooting happened about 100 feet away from where a group of officers was standing, McManus said. The officers quickly arrested the teen, who was armed with a .45 caliber handgun, McManus said.

"It happened so fast," said Kendra Franklin, who was standing inside the Church's when the shots were fired. "You just saw a big crowd, and then they all just took off running."

Despite having a large police presence that included several dozen police officers made up of members of the SWAT team, Tactical Response and Gang Units, McManus said it's difficult to prevent such a random act of violence.

"They were in this area, in particular, because of the trend of young people coming this way after the event is over," McManus said. "This was just a bad day."

The shooting stood in stark contrast to the message of peace and non-violence preached by the slain civil rights leader, whose legacy was being celebrated with a huge march. Those who participated in the day's events, including McManus, were appalled that the day's message of peace and equality was eclipsed by violence.

"Disrespectful is probably too light of a term," McManus said. "It just disrespects what this day is all about."

Annie Brooks, an aunt of one of the shooting victims, may have summed up the day's events best.

"This is not the purpose of the Martin Luther King March," she said. "Martin Luther King stood up for us to come together. If that's the kind of problems you want to have, you don't need to be here. There's no sense in that."

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