SAN ANTONIO -- Jesus Manuel Garcia, 19, remained hospitalized Wednesday night, recovering from gunshot wounds. He's accused of opening fire inside the China Garden restaurant off Southwest Military Drive Sunday night and then firing several more shots inside the neighboring Mayan Palace movie theater. Investigators say Garcia did shoot and wound an innocent bystander.
The Bexar County Sheriff's Office says an off-duty sergeant working security at the Mayan Palace shot Garcia. Garcia's former employer and owner of the restaurant, Anthony Martinez, said Garcia had worked for the company for the past eight months, but at the Southwest Military Drive location for only four weeks. News 4 was told Garcia worked as a chef.
"He was a great kid," Martinez said. "Always a 'yes, sir' mentality."
Martinez also said Garcia was born in Houston, but went to Mexico to live with family. Then, he moved to San Antonio when he was 18-years-old and was currently living with a family friend.
"China Garden was his family," Martinez said.
Martinez said he doesn't know why Garcia, who had dreams of going to college, did what he did the night of the shooting. He also stated Garcia had been hanging out with a female employee from the restaurant, but it was nothing serious. The female employee allegedly recently told Garcia she didn't want to see him anymore.
"My gut feeling is that this isn't what really caused everything," Martinez added. "It might have triggered it, but I think this is an instance when an individual has some really big internal issues going on and this may have pushed it over the edge.
China Garden was closed for two days following the shooting, but it re-opened its doors Tuesday afternoon.
