Police say a 17-year-old from San Antonio faces five felony assault counts after gunfire broke out near Beach Marker 20 during spring break weekend.
PORT ARANSAS, TX — Five people were shot late Saturday near Beach Marker 20 in Port Aransas after a fight on the beach turned into gunfire, and a 17-year-old San Antonio suspect was later arrested and charged with five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The shooting jolted the busy Gulf Coast town during one of its most crowded weekends of the year. Port Aransas police say the case remains under investigation, but court records and local reports now show one teenager has been charged as an adult with five second-degree felonies. The immediate stakes are both criminal and medical: two victims were initially reported in critical condition, others suffered serious injuries, and investigators are still sorting out who was involved in the fight and who else may face scrutiny.
Police said officers were called at about 11:40 p.m. Saturday to reports of gunfire on the beach near Beach Marker 20, an area also described in local coverage as Hole 20. When officers arrived, they found five people with gunshot wounds and began emergency response work on the sand before the victims were taken to local hospitals. Port Aransas Police Chief James Stokes said the violence began as an altercation between two groups on the beach. Hours later, at 4:20 a.m. Sunday, police arrested Ernesto Josiah Castillo, 17, of San Antonio. By Monday, he remained in the Nueces County Jail. At a first court appearance that day, a judge set his total bond at $500,000, or $100,000 on each count.
Authorities have released only part of what they believe happened in the moments before the shooting, but arrest details reported by local outlets fill in a sharper picture. According to an arrest report cited in regional coverage, Castillo was in a black 2009 Chevy pickup truck when shots were fired as the vehicle was pulling away from the scene. One account said the driver told police Castillo fired several rounds into a crowd on the beach. Investigators later said shell casings matched a Glock .45 caliber handgun found inside the truck after Corpus Christi police stopped the vehicle shortly after the shooting. Police also said three other people were taken into custody for questioning by Port Aransas detectives and Texas Rangers. As of Tuesday, no additional charges had been publicly announced, and police had not laid out a full account of what started the fight, whether the victims knew the suspect, or whether more than one weapon was involved.
The victims have not all been publicly identified, but new reporting from Central Texas outlets shows the five people who were hit were tied to one family and one family friend from the Lampasas and Copperas Cove area. A relative, Stacy Ross, said four family members and one family friend were wounded during what was supposed to be an annual beach vacation. Ross said the victims are between 20 and 30 years old. By Tuesday, she said two relatives were still in intensive care, one had left the ICU and two others had been released from the hospital. Those details added a personal dimension to a case that first emerged through short police updates and scattered witness reports. The family’s account also suggested the recovery could last weeks, extending the fallout far beyond the chaos that unfolded in a few minutes on a crowded stretch of beach.
The shooting also raised questions about safety and crowd control during spring break in Port Aransas, a town that swells with visitors when the weather warms and schools are out. Early reports from local media described a hectic weekend in the area, with police and emergency crews also dealing with serious traffic crashes on State Highway 361. In the beach shooting inquiry, officers interviewed witnesses, searched for evidence in the sand and used tools including metal detectors and a drone, according to local coverage. That kind of evidence search can be difficult on an open beach where vehicles move through, crowds gather and wind can shift debris. The setting matters because investigators are trying to reconstruct a fast-moving confrontation in a public place packed with people near midnight. Officials have not said how many witnesses they have formally interviewed or whether any video from phones, businesses or police equipment has become a key part of the case.
For now, the case is in an early but serious criminal stage. Court records show the five aggravated assault with a deadly weapon counts were filed as pre-file felony charges in the 214th District Court in Nueces County. In Texas, that charge is generally treated as a second-degree felony and can carry years in prison if a defendant is convicted. Castillo had an attorney appointed after Monday’s hearing, according to local reports. Because the suspect is 17, he can be handled in the adult criminal system in Texas. Police have said the investigation is ongoing and more information will be released later, which leaves several important points unresolved: whether prosecutors will pursue added charges, whether any of the five victims will require long-term care, whether other people in the truck or on the beach could face accusations tied to the fight, and whether investigators believe the shooting was targeted at specific people or fired generally into a crowd.
Witness and family accounts have underscored how abruptly a weekend trip turned into a mass-casualty scene. Ross told a Central Texas television station that there were no words to describe the fear of arriving after the shooting and seeing what had happened to loved ones. Other local reports quoted residents and beachgoers describing confusion, panic and people running for cover after the first shots. Those voices have so far added emotion rather than much new forensic detail, but they help explain why the case drew quick attention across South Texas. Port Aransas is usually framed in regional coverage as a vacation town known for beaches, fishing and holiday crowds, not a place where five people are rushed to hospitals after midnight gunfire. That contrast is part of why the story has spread quickly beyond the coast and into San Antonio and Central Texas, where both the suspect and several victims have ties.
As of Tuesday, Castillo remained charged with five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, no other arrests had been publicly confirmed, and investigators were still asking questions about the fight that led to the shooting. The next clear milestone is the continued court process in Nueces County and any fuller police update on victim conditions and possible added charges.
Author note: Last updated March 17, 2026.