Three San Antonio teens arrested in connection with JBSA-Lackland shooting | San Antonio

Three San Antonio teenagers are accused of taking part in a series of shootings near Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland last month, authorities said at a news conference Wednesday.

The announcement marks the first time law enforcement groups have discussed a major breakthrough in the Aug. 17 shootings that involved unidentified suspects exchanging gunfire with military personnel at the base's entrance.

The incidents made headlines and sparked speculation about the possibility of terrorist attacks. Instead, officials with the San Antonio Police Department and the Bexar County Sheriff's Office said ballistic evidence linked the shootings to a trio of local teenagers.

Ricardo Samaniego, 18, is charged with deadly conduct with a firearm, a third-degree felony, according to BCSO officials. He was arrested Tuesday and has since been released on $15,000 bail, according to court documents.

Joseph Jimenez, 19, is charged with deadly conduct and is awaiting federal indictment on a weapons charge, BCSO officials added. Meanwhile, Elijah Martinez, 19, was arrested and charged with child endangerment, authorities said.

The arrests are the result of a collaborative investigation involving SAPD, the sheriff's office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

At Wednesday's press conference, San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus said Jimenez and Samaniego opened fire while driving a stolen vehicle near the front gate of JBSA-Lackland on two separate occasions in the early morning hours of Saturday, Aug. 17.

Shortly before midnight that same day, Jimenez accidentally shot Samaniego while the couple attended a child's birthday party at an apartment complex on Marbach Road, authorities also allege.

Samaniego was holding a 6-month-old child in his arms when Jimenez shot him in the abdomen, BCSO Sheriff Salazar Javier said. However, the child was not injured.

BCSO officers responded to the shooting scene in Marbach, and Samaneigo was treated for his injuries at a local hospital, Salazar said. Samaneigo chose not to press charges against Jimenez, who had already fled the scene with Martinez, the sheriff added.

The gun used in the JBSA-Lackland shootings and the Sameniego shooting was in Jimenez and Martinez's possession at the time they left the party, Salazar also told reporters.

Salazar said his office was able to link the gun used to shoot Samaneigo — a tan Glock-19 with an illegal switch — to the shootings at JBSA-Lackland by comparing shell casings from both crime scenes and using the Integrated Ballistics Information Network, a national computer network of ballistics evidence.

BCSO also received reports of gunshots coming from a red sedan near JBSA-Lackland in the early hours of Sunday, Aug. 18. That shooting remains under investigation, Salazar said.

Jimenez admitted his involvement in the Samaneigo shooting and firing a weapon at JBSA-Lackland after authorities executed a search warrant, Salazar said. The suspect also admitted to stealing a vehicle matching the description of the car spotted near the base at the time of the shooting, the sheriff said.

Meanwhile, Martinez denies any involvement in the shootings, authorities say.

BCSO located the weapon believed to have been used in the Samaneigo and JBSA-Lackland shootings in a storage unit, officials said at Wednesday's news conference.

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