10-Year-Old Girl Fighting for Her Life After Being Shot in Road Rage Incident

Ten-year-old Alisa Gates was sitting in the back seat of her family’s car on the morning of January 30, 2026, heading to school on San Antonio’s Northwest Side, when a bullet fired from another vehicle struck her in the stomach. Her father, Jason Gates, later told reporters he turned around after hearing the shot and asked his daughter if she had been hit. She had.

What prompted the shooting, according to the San Antonio Police Department, was a honk. Alisa’s mother had sounded her horn to warn another driver who appeared to be cutting through traffic near Loop 410 and Callahan Road. That driver, police say, responded by firing into their car.

What police say happened

The SAPD identified the suspect as 41-year-old Bryan Arceo, who investigators say was driving a gray Nissan Murano. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by KSAT, Arceo allegedly fired from inside his SUV after the horn blast, then drove away. His own daughter was in the vehicle at the time.

Court records show Arceo faces four charges: injury to a child, deadly conduct with a firearm, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and child endangerment. The child endangerment count stems from the fact that his daughter was present when he allegedly discharged the weapon. A Bexar County judge set his bond at $375,000.

As of early February 2026, court records did not indicate whether Arceo had retained an attorney or entered a plea.

Alisa’s fight in the hospital

Emergency crews rushed Alisa to a local hospital, where she was listed in critical condition and taken into surgery. Jason Gates described the scene in a video shared through reporter Karina Hollingsworth on Facebook, saying his daughter was improving but still facing a difficult recovery.

Within days, the family shared more encouraging news. News 4 San Antonio reported that Alisa had been moved out of the ICU and was smiling for the first time since the shooting. Her father told reporters she could be released soon, though the family acknowledged the road ahead would include follow-up appointments and the emotional weight of what happened.

“She was thinking about a normal day in class,” Jason Gates said in one interview. Instead, his daughter’s daily life became hospital rooms and surgical recovery.

A city shaken by a school-morning shooting

The case drew immediate and intense attention across San Antonio. Local television coverage led newscasts with the detail that a fourth grader had been shot on her way to school, and breaking news segments replayed the scene near Loop 410 and Callahan for days. Residents flooded social media comment sections and neighborhood groups with messages of support for the Gates family and frustration over how quickly a commute had turned violent.

Local safety advocates used the shooting to renew calls for de-escalation on the road. One San Antonio-based advocate posted a video outlining practical steps drivers can take when they encounter aggressive behavior: avoid eye contact, do not retaliate, and call 911 rather than engage.

Road rage violence in Texas

Alisa’s case fits a troubling pattern. The Texas Department of Transportation has repeatedly warned that minor traffic disputes can escalate to deadly violence, particularly in a state where firearms are widely carried in vehicles. The agency’s safe driving campaigns urge motorists to let aggressive drivers pass, avoid gestures or horn use that could provoke a confrontation, and pull over to call for help if they feel threatened.

That advice can feel inadequate when a family does nothing more than honk a horn and a child ends up in surgery. But the core message is one that safety experts and law enforcement have repeated after every similar incident: disengaging, even when it feels wrong, is almost always the safest choice.

For the Gates family, that lesson arrived at the worst possible cost. As of March 2026, Alisa continues to recover, and the criminal case against Bryan Arceo remains pending in Bexar County.