A Lubbock County grand jury has indicted a 22-year-old man accused in the shooting death of a 38-year-old man last month at a north Lubbock club’s parking lot.
Victor Yanez is charged with murder in the April 14 death of Joshua Rios at the the El Santiago Club parking lot in the 1800 block of Clovis Road. He was indicted Tuesday.
Homicide investigators believe Yanez, who has been held at the Lubbock County Detention Center since April 17, shot Rios from the passenger seat of a silver Hyundai Sonata as it was leaving the club.
Court records state the shooting appeared to have stemmed from an argument Rios had with a woman who was friends with Yanez’s sister.
According to an arrest warrant, investigators with the Lubbock Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit were called to the scene after police officers responding to a shots fired call about 2 a.m. at the club found Rios suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
He was taken by ambulance to University Medical Center where he died.
Yanez was identified as a suspect in the shooting after investigators obtained video from the club’s security cameras and spoke with a handful of witnesses who said he was at the club that night with a group of women, according to a probable cause affidavit filed with his arrest warrant.
Investigators with the Metro Unit spoke with a club employee who said before the shooting that Rios was arguing with a woman at the club near closing time, the warrant states.
The employee told investigators that the woman with whom Rios argued arrived at the club with her girlfriend, later identified as Yanez’s sister, and her sister. Meanwhile, he said a man, later identified as Yanez, and two other women joined them, the warrant states.
He said Rios and the woman went outside to continue the argument, which appeared to be de-escalating, the employee reportedly told investigators.
Meanwhile, one of the woman’s friends told investigators that two of the women in their group went to Yanez to tell them about the argument, the warrant states.
The employee reportedly told investigators he saw Yanez walk up to Rios in what appeared to be an attempt to intimidate him, the warrant states.
Investigators spoke with the woman with whom Rios argued and she said she became upset with him after he commented on her appearance, the warrant states.
However she said she handled the issue, saying Rios was not a threat, the warrant states.
The club’s security camera video showed Rios and the woman shaking hands at the end of their encounter, the warrant states.
The woman said she heard gunshots as she and her friends left in her Honda and she saw Rios fall to the ground, the warrant states.
The vehicle later crashed near the area of I-27 and the Marsha Sharp Freeway, court records state.
However, the woman denied to investigators that Yanez was part of her group at the club, the warrant states.
The video from the club’s security cameras also showed the shooter, who resembled Yanez, get into the front passenger seat of a Silver Hyundai, which could be seen traveling slowly as it passed Rios.
The woman driving the vehicle admitted to arriving at the club in the silver Hyundai but declined to answer any questions about the shooting without her lawyer present, the warrant states.
The employee told investigators that before walking up to Rios, he reportedly heard Yanez say, “I’m going to blow his — down,” before entering the vehicle, the affidavit states.
The video showed the front passenger extend an arm and fire several shots at Rios, the warrant states.
A warrant for Yanez’s arrest was issued a day after the shooting and he surrender two days later at the Lubbock County Detention Center the next day.
His bond is set at $350,000.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Man indicted on murder charge after deadly Lubbock club shooting
Reporting by Gabriel Monte, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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