When shots rang out at Westfield Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara, California, on Black Friday evening, one man sprang into action.
In an interview with La Voz News, a student news outlet in the area, Cristian Rodriguez even jokingly called himself the “Mexican Spiderman,” as he described how he smashed a window with a bowling ball to help others flee the chaos.
According to the San José Police Department (SJPD), the shooting occurred around 5:40 p.m. on November 28, 2025, at the South Bay shopping center when police say a verbal altercation between two men near the mall’s Macy’s escalated. One pulled out a gun and fired multiple rounds.
The “pop, pop, pop!” sent people into a panic
Rodriguez was bowling at the adjacent Bowlero center when he heard the first gunshots. He mentioned spotting a young white male, and Rodriguez thought “looked like a shooter,” and his “natural human reaction kicked in.”
Rodriguez says he shouted “shooter! shooter!” but the crowd initially thought it was a prank until the unmistakable “pop, pop, pop!” of gunfire sent people into a panic. He recalled a woman handing him her child, adding, “I was like, what?”
Spidey used “crazy kicks”
Amid the chaos, he tried desperately to break a window with his feet. “I’m like, kicking the the window. I kicked it at least three times, like crazy kicks,” he recalled. “I used to play soccer, so I could kick pretty hard. Nothing was working.”
When that failed, he grabbed a bowling ball. “I look around, I pick up the bowling ball, I like yank it and [the glass] finally breaks,” he said. ” … Then, as soon as it happened, everyone starts getting out of that window,” he added.
Moments later, the reporter asked whether he worried about legal consequences. Without missing a beat, Rodriguez offered: “I hope I don’t get charged for it… I’m just a Mexican Spiderman at this point, right?”
No word on charges, but Rodriguez’s daring act quickly went viral. The La Voz News video of his recounting of the event has racked up more than 150,000 likes on social media and counting.
During the violence, three bystanders — a man, a woman, and a 16-year-old girl — were struck. All were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Police said the woman and teen were unintended victims, likely hit by stray bullets, and that the shooting appeared to be gang-related. The mall was evacuated for hours before reopening the next day. Authorities confirmed by early Saturday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with the shooting.
Published: Dec 1, 2025 05:28 pm