SAN ANTONIO – It took less than 90 seconds for Allen Hoover to locate and dig up the first bullet.
“That’s like a 9mm slug,” the Mosaic Land Development vice-president said, kneeling next to his metal detector along the fence line with the San Antonio Target, Hunting and Fishing Club.
It was the first of four spent rounds Hoover uncovered Tuesday morning on the 40-acre chunk of land off West Hausman Road, but he estimates at least 50 bullets or fragments in all have been found downrange from the SATHFC’s firing line, either on that property or another nearby.
He also believes there are plenty more to be found.
“We have not put a whole lot of effort into it,” Hoover said.
The land is owned by SA Given to Fly, LLC, a company linked to Mosaic, that is suing the gun club over safety concerns.
Mosaic wants to have the land developed into single-family homes, but it has paused those plans over concerns that projectiles from the adjoining gun club “regularly trespass” onto the property.
Standing at the fence line Tuesday, Hoover pointed out the firing line was still visible over the dirt backstop. While shooters would presumably shoot downward toward the berm, Hoover said, “I don’t know how comfortable you would feel with just somebody over there getting ready to shoot a rifle and loading it, pointed right at us.”
A nearby school, Acton Academy North San Antonio, has also asked to join the lawsuit.
A court order has barred any shooting activity at the range while the lawsuit makes its way through court. The case is expected to go to trial in July.
Hoover and Blake Yantis, a co-owner at Mosaic and an SA Given to Fly partner, said the property isn’t the only one in the line of fire.
Based on a 900-foot safety zone, which they said is recommended by the National Rifle Association, walkers and bikers along the Leon Creek Greenway Trail could also be in the way of falling shotgun pellets from the club’s trap shooting field.
In a visit along that area of the trail with Hoover and Yantis on Tuesday, KSAT saw dozens of shotgun pellets lying along both the greenway and another, rougher trail closer to the creek.
Even at that distance, Yantis said the shot could do damage. He suggested it could hit someone in the eye.
“I mean, there’s a reason that there’s (sic), you know, minimum depth requirements,” Yantis said. “And it’s because the idea of shot (sic) falling out on top of people isn’t a good idea.”
In a separate lawsuit, a cyclist claimed he was hit in the helmet and knocked from his bike by a pellet around the greenway.
His case against SATHFC was dismissed after he failed to serve the club with an expert report, but his case against the man who was shooting at the range continues.
SATHFC’s attorney, Mark Anthony Sanchez, said in an emailed statement Tuesday that the fragments found on the developer’s land “are of unknown origin and cannot be conclusively linked to our gun range,” noting the surrounding area had been historically used for hunting.
Sanchez also said they had received reports of gunfire coming from a nearby greenbelt area, which could suggest that discovered materials may have come from other sources over time.
“Given these factors, any assertion that these fragments originated from our range is purely speculative,” Sanchez said. “The San Antonio Target, Hunting, and Fishing Club remains steadfast in its commitment to safe and responsible operations and looks forward to demonstrating its defense in court based on verifiable evidence rather than conjecture.”
While looking for bullet fragments Tuesday, Hoover and his metal detector also unearthed the brass cap of a spent shotgun shell, indicating there had been at least some gunfire on that side of the property line. A 9mm casing was also found along the footpath on the side of the Leon Creek Greenway Trail
Walking along the footpath, though, Yantis was adamant about the origin of the shotgun pellets.
“It just matches up with where they’re shooting from, so it really couldn’t be anywhere — any other place,” he said.
More coverage of this story on KSAT: