AUSTIN (KXAN) — The San Marcos Police Department said officers responded to multiple unrelated shootings over the weekend — one early Saturday morning, one Saturday night and two early Sunday morning. Several were injured, and one person died.
During a press conference Monday, San Marcos Police Chief Stan Standridge said he cannot remember a time in the last five years when law enforcement dealt with so many violent incidents at once.
“Based upon early analysis, it does look like violent crime is upticking in San Marcos,” Standridge said. “Compared to our last two normal years — so that would be 2023 and 2024. So far, 2025 is trending up.”
In the wake of these incidents, SMPD will have additional officers patrolling the square until the end of the year, Standridge said.
The first shooting happened early Saturday morning on Old Ranch Road near Houston Street, where a suspect or suspects shot from a vehicle into a wooded area.
The shots hit a nearby apartment. The people inside the apartment said they did not think they were being targeted.
Police recovered seven bullet casings and a detective has been assigned to the investigation.
Later Saturday, just after 10 p.m. in the downtown bar district near the courthouse, an officer was responding to a robbery when they heard gunshots. The officer ran toward the square and found three victims with gunshot wounds, one outside of a bar, one inside the bar and another who tried to run from the scene.
Two were taken to Ascension Seton Hays in Kyle, and the third was taken to Christus Santa Rosa Hospital in San Marcos, where he died.
The victim killed was identified Monday as Ronnie Hernandez, Jr.
“We have worked nonstop to identify the person responsible for this homicide,” Standridge said during Monday’s press conference.
SMPD said officers are searching for two Black men connected to the downtown shooting. One was described as wearing a black hoodie with white letters, dark pants and dark shoes. The second was seen wearing a two-tone jacket (black over light gray), dark pants and a beanie.
Police located a vehicle they believe the suspect used to leave the scene — a four-door Audi A3 — but not the suspects. Standridge would not say where the car was found, but said investigators believed one of the suspects is local.
A chaotic scene
A woman who asked not to be identified said she was on the square with her boyfriend, admiring people’s Halloween costumes, when she saw a group of four or five young men engaged in an argument when one pulled out a gun.
“We crouched behind the back of a truck and six or seven shots went off. We were probably 10 feet away from them when it all went down,” she said.
Standridge said multiple officers responded and tried to secure the large scene, but it was difficult to keep the patrons and businesses in the bar district separated.
SMPD called the Fire Marshal to ask businesses in the area to close early.
Eden Seeley works at a restaurant next to the alley called Tap Room. She said people rushed inside for safety when shots were fired.
“We closed down. They told us to go home. I literally got out of here as fast as I possibly could,” she said, adding that coworkers are still processing what happened. “There were a couple of people who were really spooked. I was kind of nervous coming in… I will say, in more recent years, [the square] has felt like things have gotten a little bit more dangerous.”
Standridge said cooperation from businesses in the district was crucial for officers to conduct their investigations.
“We are very thankful for their cooperation with this matter,” he said.
Two more shootings
SMPD said a second shooting happened around 1:25 a.m. Sunday at the Outpost Apartments in the 1600 block of Post Road.
Surveillance cameras captured another violent scene next to the complex pool. Deputies with the Hays County Sheriff’s Office were first on the scene and found a large amount of blood near the pool.
One victim was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle. Investigators said that another blood trail at the scene indicated that someone else may have been seriously hurt, but no other victims had been identified. Anyone with information about a potential second victim is asked to call law enforcement.
The suspect in the shooting at the pool, and another person who was seen on video assaulting another victim, are being sought by SMPD.
While at the scene on Post Road, law enforcement officers heard gunfire coming from the area of North LBJ Drive.
Standridge said officers located and arrested the person believed to have fired the gun: 20-year-old Eliezer Johnson Hernandez.
Authorities said this incident was unrelated to the previous two.
Increasing weekend security
Standridge said that, at one point Saturday night, officers with SMPD and the Hays County Sheriff’s Office had more than 35 active calls for service. Officers from Buda, Kyle, and Texas State University PD, plus Texas Rangers and Hays County Sheriff’s Office deputies assisted as the volume of calls ticked up.
The chief said he and other senior officers thought this Halloween weekend felt different from busy weekends of the past.
“I have been here for exactly five years this month. In my time I have not experienced that,” referring to the number of 911 calls received over the weekend.
Standridge said there have been 38 shootings in San Marcos this year. Six of those were in the downtown area. He said that violent crime was overall increasing in 2024-2025, compared to the previous two-year average in 2022-2023.
After a weekend of multiple shootings, SMPD will staff “a minimum of four” officers, plus officers from TSUPD, in the downtown area on busy weekend nights through the end of the fiscal year.
Standridge praised TSU Chief of Police Matt Carmichael for his department’s support.
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