SAN ANTONIO – Two people are dead following a series of violent events on the city's South Side that included domestic violence, a shooting, a house fire and a police standoff.

Police Chief William McManus said the chaos started around 4 p.m. when a man in his 50s severely beat his wife at their home in the 200 block of Belden Avenue.

The woman escaped and ran across the street while her husband opened fire on her, McManus said. While the woman was running, a man in his late 60s tried to help but was fatally wounded by the man, McManus said. The neighbor and the man may have had some sort of history between them, McManus said.

The woman was not hit by gunfire, but was taken to a hospital for treatment of her severe injuries.

The man then set his house on fire and kept firing rounds from his rifle while crouched on his porch, when a SWAT officer shot the man, McManus said. It's not clear if the man was killed by the gunfire or if he perished when his house burned.

The fire was so intense that it spread to at least one nearby home. Firefighters sprayed water on a third home in hopes of preventing the fire from reaching that structure.

San Antonio fire Chief Charles Hood said that the whole block would have been burned down had there not been a vacant lot next door. Hood said winds fueled the fire, which hampered firefighting efforts.

CPS Energy was working to get the natural gas meter shut off.

Several blocks are closed off in the area.

McManus said police have received about six calls for disturbances at the home in the past six or seven months.