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SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A 19-year-old man arrested in a San Antonio shooting that left two people dead and wounded five others said he was acting in self-defense when he opened fire during a concert at a bar.
Kiernan Christopher Williams is expected to face capital murder charges for the Sunday night shooting at Ventura on the Museum Reach portion of the San Antonio River Walk, police said Monday.
As Williams was taken into custody Monday, he promoted his own Instagram account and described himself as “an upcoming artist.”
He told reporters that another person threatened to kill him because Williams had bumped into him at the bar.
“I regret everything that I did, no lie,” Williams said.
Court records do not list an attorney who could speak on Williams' behalf. In 2017, a judge found Williams guilty on one charge of assaulting a public servant, and he was later repeatedly jailed for probation violations, Bexar County court records show.
The medical examiner's office identified the men killed as Robert Martinez and Alejandro Robles, police said. A 46-year-old woman and four male teens between the ages of 16 and 19 were hurt but are expected to survive their injuries, police said.
Police have said the shooting was “not a random incident” and that at least one of the seven victims knew Williams.
“It's nothing more complicated than an argument that occurred inside the club with someone pulling out a firearm,” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Sunday night.
Robles, who was killed in the shooting, had gone to Ventura with his wife to support a childhood friend who was performing that night, family members told the San Antonio Express-News. His father, James Huff, said he did not believe his son knew Williams.
A since-deleted Facebook event indicated Sunday night's concert at the Ventura was “Living the DREAM,” a showcase featuring multiple performers, and the Express-News reported that a flyer listed Williams as one of the scheduled performers. An email to the apparent promoters wasn't immediately returned.
It was not the only shooting at an entertainment venue Sunday night. Two people were shot and killed and at least 15 were injured in a shooting outside a bar in Kansas City, Missouri, just before midnight. Police believe the shooter is one of the two who was killed.
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