Gotta Habit Smoke Shop Closed After September Robbery, Shooting

Patrick William Reilly, 25-year-old smoke shop attendant, was shot once in the chest while struggling with a suspect on the 700 block of North LBJ Drive. San Marcos Police arrested and charged Steven Carlos Hernandez Sept. 25 with aggravated robbery.

Gotta Habit is now closed, said Chase Katz, owner and manager of Dos Gatos Kolache Bakery and Pie Society. Since the shooting, no one leaves or enters the shop.

The shop’s merchandise is currently on display as if the business is still in operation.

“I have yet to see any of the employees or the owners show up to the shop,” Katz said. “I don’t necessarily know if they are going to open up again since all their stuff is still in the shop, but I really doubt that’ll happen. They are closed for sure.”

The side of town near Gotta Habit has experienced two unfortunate incidents in a little over a month. A body was found near construction Oct. 29 on North LBJ Drive.

“It is scary to think that this kind of stuff actually happens, but sadly it does,” said Alyssa Wilson, general manager of Bobcat Nation Sports Bar & Grill, located in the same shopping area. “I know a lot of our girls that work here live around the area. The shooting isn’t something I try to think about all the time, but it is in the back of my mind now.”

Safety of employees is a main priority for Bobcat Nation since the shooting because the majority of the workers are female, Wilson said.

“As a business, things had to change,” Wilson said. “The girls are not allowed to take out the trash alone, they have to park in the front of the bar and they always have to leave with someone—never alone.”

Since the shooting, shops in the area have resumed their normal routine.

“Everything is business as usual here,” Katz said. “I think people are really starting to understand that the shooting had to do with the shop and its employees themselves.”

Johanna Vega, owner of the Studio 13 smoke shop, said she speculates the shooting was in direct correlation with the selling of spice, or synthetic marijuana, at the shop.

“I don’t know what exactly went on with Gotta Habit, but I think it has to do with synthetic marijuana and how it’s been getting really popular with the young crowd,” Vega said.

Synthetic marijuana, or spice, is a type of narcotic sprayed with lab-synthesized chemicals, according to Drugs.com. These chemicals make the substance smell like marijuana and allow one to still obtain a “high” from the drug.

Spice hit the American market in 2008 and became widely popular with high school students who could purchase the product at convenience stores, according to the website.

Synthetic marijuana’s success was mainly due to its easy accessibility and the fact spice does not show up positive on most drug tests, according to the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids website.

“When spice was still legal, we sold it here at the shop,” Vega said. “We would get robbed constantly in middle of the night because people would come to steal the spice. I remember a month where we got easily four to five robberies in that time.”

Vega said “enough was enough,” and Studio 13 chose to stop selling synthetic marijuana before it was outlawed for the safety of its employees.

“I’m not here to say that Gotta Habit was selling spice, but I speculate that something along those lines was occurring,” Vega said. “From personal experience, that’s the conclusion I’m going to make.”

Business is running smoothly, and the employees understand the precautions they have to take to remain safe.

“I want the public to understand that this is not something that happens at a lot of smoke shops around town,” Vega said. “This was a rare thing that happened, and I really don’t want people to be discouraged with supporting local shops.”

Exsar Arguello is a news reporter for the University Star where this story originaaly published. It is reprinted here through a news partnership between the University Star and the San Marcos Corridor. | @CorridorNews