A routine school drop-off in San Antonio turned into a nightmare when a 10-year-old girl was shot while sitting in the back of her family’s van, her parents say, in what police are calling a road rage attack. The child, identified by her family as Alisa, is now in critical condition and fighting for her life after a bullet tore into the vehicle on the way to class. Her parents walked away physically unharmed, but they are now navigating the kind of trauma no family expects to face on an ordinary weekday morning.
Investigators say the shooting started with a simple traffic conflict, the kind of close call that plays out on busy streets every day without gunfire. This time, though, a driver allegedly responded to a honked horn by opening fire, leaving a fourth grader clinging to life and a neighborhood shaken by how quickly anger on the road turned into violence.
Morning drive turns violent in seconds
Alisa’s family was driving through a residential area of San Antonio when another vehicle backed out of a driveway into their path, according to police. Her mother, trying to avoid a crash, hit the horn as the van moved along the Drive, a split-second reaction that should have been the end of it. Instead, investigators say the other driver pulled out behind them, escalating what started as a near miss into a chase that ended with gunfire.
San Antonio officers later described how a car backed out in front of the family’s vehicle on a busy Friday morning, prompting that warning honk before the situation spiraled. The driver who had backed out is accused of following the van and firing at it as the vehicles moved through San Antonio traffic, turning a routine commute into a crime scene in a matter of moments. Police say the call for help came in around 7:30 in the morning, just blocks from where the confrontation began, after the family realized their daughter had been hit and pulled over to get her help.
A 10-year-old on her way to school
Inside the van, Alisa was riding in the back seat with her backpack, headed to class like any other school day. Her father, identified in reports as Gates, later told reporters that his daughter was struck by a bullet fired from another car while they were still on the way to school. He said Alisa was hit before he even realized shots had been fired, describing how the chaos unfolded so fast that he did not immediately understand what had happened to his child, a detail he shared with Gates and other relatives gathered at the hospital.
Family members say the 10-year-old had been excited about school that morning, with her parents driving her as they usually do. They told investigators that she was in the back of the van when the gunfire erupted, and that they only realized she had been shot when they saw her injuries after pulling over. Her parents later repeated to officers and local reporters that their daughter was simply on her way to school when the attack happened, a point they emphasized again in interviews shared through San Antonio police and community updates.
Inside the van: parents unhurt, daughter critically wounded
Despite the hail of bullets, both of Alisa’s parents escaped without physical injuries, according to police. The family’s van was hit while they were still in motion, and officers later confirmed that the 10-year-old was the only one struck, even though all three were inside the vehicle. Reports from SAN ANTONIO describe how her parents immediately pulled over and called for help once they realized she had been hit, while neighbors and passing drivers watched emergency crews swarm the area.
Paramedics rushed Alisa to a local hospital in critical condition, where doctors began working to stabilize her. Police described her injuries as life threatening, and early updates from the scene painted a grim picture of a child fighting for survival after a senseless act of road rage. A later briefing noted that the call for help had come in around 7:30 that morning, just blocks from the family’s home, a detail repeated in a video update that showed officers canvassing the neighborhood and searching for shell casings near the shooting scene.
Suspect arrested after citywide search
In the hours after the shooting, San Antonio police launched a search for the driver accused of opening fire on the family’s van. Officers released a description of the suspect vehicle and asked the public for tips, including through a Dallas Express alert that urged anyone with information to text SATIP to 847411. Investigators said the suspect had backed out of a driveway with no regard for traffic, then allegedly followed the family and fired at them after the mother honked, a sequence laid out in a briefing shared in a video update on the case.
By later that day, officers announced that a suspect had been taken into custody and was facing several charges connected to the shooting of the 10-year-old girl. Police said the arrest happened just blocks from where the attack occurred, after tips and surveillance footage helped them track down the vehicle and its driver. A separate clip from the scene showed officers leading a man away in handcuffs as they continued to process evidence near the family’s van, a moment captured in another Jan update that underscored how quickly the investigation moved once the community began calling in information.
Family clings to hopeful signs from the hospital
At the hospital, relatives say Alisa has already shown flashes of the toughness that defined her before the shooting. Her father, referred to in one video simply as Father, told reporter Karina Hollingsworth that his daughter was “doing well” in the hospital compared with the terrifying first hours after she arrived. In a clip shared on Facebook, he described how doctors were monitoring her closely and how grateful the family was for the outpouring of support from friends, neighbors, and strangers who had heard about the case.
Relatives have also shared photos of Alisa from before the shooting, including images of her smiling next to a white horse in an enclosure, with a brown horse in the background, snapshots that now feel painfully at odds with the reality of intensive care. One Image collage shows her beaming in front of the animals, a reminder that behind the headlines is a child who loves horses and school, not a statistic. Family members say she is still in critical condition, but they are holding on to every small sign of progress as she continues to fight.
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