Mother and children survive with bullets in their apartment during a shooting.

A night of sleep turned into a nightmare for Genesis, a young mother of two, when her apartment was pierced by bullets in the wee hours of the morning. At around 2 a.m., her windows and patio doors were shattered by a rain of bullets. Among the first slugs to pass through broke the glass, bounced off a wall, and landed on her couch, right next to her. Genesis recalls running to check on her two toddlers, who luckily did not sustain any injury.

The terrorizing incident lasted several hours, with more and more potentially fatal rounds penetrating her apartment. She was living in an apartment next to a man who law enforcement officers said fired over 100 rounds at them after they responded to the distress call at Bon Ray early Friday morning. The police added that the gunman eventually ended his own life after killing his roommate.

More than 24 hours after the chaos, the Medical Examiner is yet to release the names of the victims. Genesis lamented that she was new to the area, having moved in a few weeks ago, and somehow familiar with the man who shattered her life. She thought he was a calm person as he often walked to his car using a cane. “I never imagined this going on,” she said.

When the shooting started, Genesis thought she had moved into a rough neighborhood. The feeling of being left to fend for themselves was terrible, she said, as she only saw one police vehicle in the area for hours. She called for help, but the 911 responders were unhelpful, and they advised her to stay away from windows. Genesis said her fear for her life and her children’s safety were genuine, as she could not make any sense of the situation.

Hours after the attack, Genesis was still in shock, having spent the morning trapped inside her apartment, cleaning shattered glasses. According to her, the apartment management did not comfort her. She tried to reach them, but they never picked up the phone. Genesis complained that they did not check on them, even though a shooting happened, which added more stress. The Cottage Creek Apartment complex is owned by Opportunity Housing, formerly the San Antonio Housing Authority.

At present, the police have not found any motive for the incident, which involved a lone gunman shooting the police with both a rifle and a pistol. The Police Chief, William McManus, reported that the first arriving patrol vehicle took about 40 shots as the officer hid behind a garbage container for shelter. With regard to the safety of nearby residents, McManus said the officers evacuated what they could evacuate around the building. However, the gunman was shooting everywhere, and within a 20-minute period, he probably fired over 100 rounds.

The young mother, Genesis, and her family survived a night that could have ended tragically. As the investigation continues, many questions remain unanswered, but the residents are grateful for their safety amidst chaos.