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'He was supposed to come home' | Mother of teen killed during Fiesta shooting speaks out

The mother identified one of the two suspects as 18-year-old Mikey Valdez.

SAN ANTONIO — A mother is identifying one of the two people killed Saturday night at the Historic Market Square as 18-year-old Mikey Valdez.

San Antonio police said Valdez shot at a 20-year-old man, then ran from police. 

His mother, Gabrielle Rodriguez, said police shot her son five times, killing him. The 20-year-old man who has been identified as Albert Cisneros, Jr. also died from his injuries. 

Police said four bystanders were hurt, which included two women who were shot. They are all expected to be okay.

Rodriguez said when she spoke to a homicide detective, they said one of the officer's body cameras was off, the other was rolling. She claimed the detective told her based off that one video, her son may have not initiated the shooting.

“The detective from homicide, she stated that the footage had showed that my son possibly wasn’t in the wrong," Rodriguez said. 

She said she was disgusted when she saw videos circulating on social media of her son, shot.

“I’m seeing a video of my son laying on the floor, gasping for air," Rodriguez said. "The officers didn’t tend to him, they didn’t check his pulse, they didn’t do any of that, they just put handcuffs on him and let him die.”

She said she wants to see the body camera video herself.

"He was supposed to come home," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez confirmed her son was recently arrested for targeting San Antonio parking lots on the north side. He was out on bond at the time of Saturday night's incident. 

One video taken by Jaden Martinez, shows people running for safety as shots are being fired. Fermin Suarez is a vendor who was just feet away from the gunfire.

“We hear multiple shots, I want to say it was like eight to 10 shots," Suarez said. “Everybody is running, ducking, diving."

Suarez said his own mother had to hide underneath a table. He said he and another stranger helped one of the two women who were shot.

“We pulled her behind a wall, we tried to render air to her," Suarez said. 

He said his family has been selling food at Fiesta for 27 years and he has noticed the events becoming more dangerous. He said they decided to close early at 5 p.m. before the sun went down Sunday night out of precaution.

"Bringing a gun to an event like this, it shouldn’t have happened," Suarez said. 

Fiesta De Los Reyes organizers chose to end the event an hour early because of the shooting. Suarez said he was thankful for the quick response from police but said it is still heartbreaking that two young men died.

“Now you have two families having to plan funerals," Suarez said. 

KENS 5 reached out to SAPD regarding Rodriguez's claims, we have not heard back yet. SAPD will typically release body camera video from officer-involved shootings within 30 days.

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