SAN ANTONIO – The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office honored the off-duty first responders who stopped a gunman in his tracks inside a crowded movie theater lobby.
Sgt. Lisa Castellano, a sheriff’s deputy, and Armando Olguin, with SAISD police, received two standing ovations.
Sheriff Ortiz called the two heroes for potentially saving many lives Sunday night when 19-year-old Jesus Manuel Garcia entered the lobby, apparently chasing a coworker, and started shooting.
Sgt. Castellano was working her side job that night as a security guard for the theater.
She heard gunshots and broken glass, spotted the gunman near the lobby restrooms and told him to stop multiple times. When Garcia refused, Sgt. Castellano shot the gunman.
“All the panic, chaos,” she recalled. “That was really nerve-wracking. It was, I’m not going to lie – it was frightening. But the training kicks in.”
Officer Olguin was inside a nearby theater watching a movie with his family when he heard the gunshots and volunteered to help Sgt. Castellano keep the gunman at bay until responding officers arrived.
“I think the law enforcement community is very tight-knit and it’s just a special moment,” Officer Olguin said after receiving a medal from the sheriff.
Sheriff Ortiz also awarded more than two dozen other first responders for going above and beyond the call of duty.
