Domestic Violence Leads to Black Friday Shooting in Walmart Parking Lot

Police say a father of four was shot and killed Friday afternoon because he saw a man beating a woman in a northwest side Walmart parking lot and told him to stop.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus called the victim, identified as 39-year-old Isidro Zarate, a "good samaritan" who'd just dropped his wife off for some Black Friday shopping at the Walmart off Vance Jackson Road when he saw a man assaulting a woman in the parking lot. McManus said the assailant had grabbed the woman by the hair when Zarate tried to intervene.

According to McManus, Zarate pulled up in his car and, from the driver's seat, told the man "get your hands off her." The assailant, later identified as 21-year-old Teles Mandan Juarez, "pulled a handgun and started firing rounds," McManus said, striking Zarate in the neck and killing him. One stray bullet hit another woman in the parking lot who was "not even involved," McManus said. A woman inside the car with Zarate suffered serious injuries from shrapnel.

McManus said a police helicopter chased the shooter after he fled from the parking lot, with officers eventually arresting him on the Westside near Cupples and Castroville roads. Officials have charged Juarez with aggravated assault and retaliation, but McManus said he will likely also face a murder charge.
Zarate's murder comes as local police try to figure out what's behind 2016's spike in homicides, which police officials have in part blamed on the kind of domestic violence-related killings we've seen a lot of this year. When asked what to do if you see partner violence and want to intervene, McManus said "you have to give credit" to Zarate for trying to stop the assault. "I think anyone would do that. Unfortunately, this other man was too eager to shoot. I think anyone would try to intervene if they were to see something like that."

Zarate's family has set up a gofundme page to help cover funeral expenses.