Hell's Gate

San Antonio’s “Hell’s Gate” is a local nickname for a concrete drainage ditch and ravine on the West Side, around the 1100 block of Shadwell Drive. It is not an official landmark, park, or tourist attraction. News reports from the area describe neighborhood residents using the name for the drainage channel, which had become a place where some teenagers and young adults gathered, drank, smoked, or left graffiti. MySA The location became much more widely known after a February 20, 2015 homicide. Steven Cerna was found shot to death in the ravine that morning. Investigators later alleged that he had been brought to the area under the pretense of buying drugs and was killed in retaliation connected to another shooting. Robert Martinez was arrested in 2017 and convicted of Cerna’s murder in January 2018.