North Star Mall robbery on San Antonio’s North Side ends with gunshot through glass door

Police investigate weekend theft and gunfire during escape

San Antonio police are searching for two men accused of stealing merchandise from a department store at North Star Mall and firing a shot through a glass exit door while fleeing. Officers were dispatched to a robbery-in-progress call at about 8:25 p.m. on Saturday, July 22, 2023, in the 7400 block of San Pedro Avenue, where the mall is located.

Investigators said mall security reported that two suspects took miscellaneous clothing items and moved toward the mall’s second level as they attempted to get out of the building. Security personnel told officers that the glass exit doors were locked, and one of the suspects fired a single round at the door, shattering the glass to create an escape route.

No injuries were reported in the incident, and police said the two suspects were not located during the initial response.

What is known about the suspects’ escape

Authorities said the pair fled the property in what was described as a possible silver vehicle. The suspects’ direction of travel was not specified. Investigators later recovered a firearm connected to the incident and processed the scene at the mall, including the damaged glass doorway.

Police have not released descriptions of the suspects, the specific store targeted, or an estimate of the value of the stolen items. No arrests were announced in the initial report, and it was not immediately clear whether surveillance video captured identifiable images of the suspects or the vehicle.

Public safety implications and investigative next steps

While the theft involved merchandise, the firing of a weapon inside a busy commercial setting raised the stakes of the incident. Even when no one is struck, a discharged round in a public place can create risks that extend beyond the intended target, including ricochet hazards and the potential for panic in crowded corridors and exits.

In cases like this, investigators typically work to identify suspects through a combination of:

• mall and store surveillance footage tracking movements before and after the theft;
• witness accounts from employees, shoppers, and security staff;
• forensic processing of recovered weapons and associated evidence;
• vehicle identification through parking-lot cameras and nearby roadway surveillance where available.

Police have not said whether the shot was fired while inside the store, in the mall concourse, or at the threshold of the exit; the reported sequence indicates it was fired to break the locked glass doors during the escape. The investigation remained open as authorities continued efforts to identify and locate the two suspects.