The San Marcos Police Department is still looking for the man who attacked and severely injured a 22-year-old woman Monday.
The incident happened just after 6 a.m. outside her apartment at the Village on the River just off Interstate 35. It's the latest of a series of unusual crimes that have kept San Marcos police busy this summer.
On July 9, two men decide to randomly shoot guns at people, their homes and their cars in San Marcos. Police later arrested them.
On July 20, San Marcos police arrested two of three men they believe are responsible for up to 30 burglaries at local businesses throughout the summer. Police found the third suspect shortly after.
The headlines, seen in San Marcos, Austin and San Antonio make San Marcos resident Rachel Williams a little nervous.
"Hearing the story on the news just really kind of shocked me because I always thought San Marcos was safe because I never really heard any stories about anything else that's happen here," Williams said.
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San Marcos crime
While recent crimes have gotten media attention, the police chief says it's not indicative of a larger problem.
 
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Residents shouldn't let the recent attention worry them, San Marcos Police Chief Howard Williams said.
"They caught a lot of media attention because they were unusual but they are not indicative of a crime problem in San Marcos," Williams said.
Numbers for 2006 aren't in but between the years of 2002 and 2005 there were only two murders. The numbers of robberies and burglaries decreased.
There was a slight increase in auto thefts, shop lifting and aggravated assaults. Those numbers don't surprise Williams especially considering how fast San Marcos is growing.
"The actual number of offenses will go up. That's the function of an increase in population. When you look at our crime rate, which is the number of crimes reported per 1,000 people in San Marcos, the rates are not increasing. In fact the rates in 2004 and 2005 were actually down," Williams said.
People may not realize that with all the media attention, Williams said, because they're not used to all the crime stories.
"In years past, the police department did not send out news releases or press releases on a lot of cases that happened. I believe the more information we put out in the public, so they know what's going on, the better off we all are," Williams said.
While the information doesn't exactly make people like Rachel Williams safer, she said it does get her thinking.
"It opens my eyes a little bit to see my surroundings a little more and pay attention to what's around me," she said.
Williams hopes more people hear crime news in San Marcos and walk away with that same sense of awareness rather than fear.
The San Marcos Police Department provides detailed information on their crime statistics on their Web site.
