ROBSTOWN — Robstown police believe an 18-year-old man fatally shot a 14-year-old boy on Nov. 18 as retaliation in connection to a separate shooting that happened two days earlier.
Robstown Police Department officers arrested Elias Eric Rivera, a student at the Robstown Independent School District, on Nov. 18 on a charge of possession of a controlled substance.
He faces a charge of murder in connection to the shooting death of the boy now identified as Shawn Sanchez.
Police officers responded to a call of a shooting at about 3:50 p.m. Nov. 18 and found that Sanchez had been shot six times in front of the Figueroa Square Apartments on Ruben Chavez Road, according to Robstown Police Chief Mike Tamez, who spoke during a news conference at the Robstown Police Station on the night of Nov. 19.
Police officers found Rivera’s vehicle shortly after the shooting and executed a search warrant through a combination of witness statements, vehicle information, camera footage and the help of other law enforcement agencies, building on information they’d gathered that a drive-by shooting happened at the apartment, according to the chief.
The Texas Department of Public Safety assisted in the search for the shooter. Detectives from the Robstown Police Department Criminal Investigation Division and the Organized Crime Unit led the investigation that ultimately led police to Rivera’s residence, where police executed a search warrant and placed him under arrest.
Tamez said the suspect lured Sanchez out of the Figueroa Apartments, where he had gone to visit his girlfriend, by sending the 14-year-old a text message or phone call.
When Sanchez came outside, Rivera’s silver truck drove up and stopped outside of the apartment. Tamez said three men got out of the vehicle to confront the 14-year-old, and two of the men fired guns.
Police have secured both weapons involved in the shooting, Tamez said.
Police obtained a warrant on the night of Nov. 18 to search the truck and found two pistols and two AR platform rifles and shell casings inside, as well as slugs from the weapons, including one that was intact and that will aid in the forensic investigation, Tamez said.
Police are still looking for three assailants who they say took part in the shooting.
Since the investigation began, police have learned that Sanchez knew the suspect who was arrested in connection to a shooting on Nov. 16 in the 700 block of West Avenue C in Robstown, in which a 16-year-old boy suffered injuries after being shot three times, Tamez said.
According to the chief, Rivera retaliated against Sanchez by shooting him. Tamez did not name the suspect in the Nov. 16 shooting.
He said the police do not know how the shooters obtained the guns, but that additional information will be available for release in the next few days.
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Robstown police arrest 18-year-old in connection to fatal shooting of 14-year-old
Reporting by Katie Nickas, Corpus Christi Caller Times / Corpus Christi Caller Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
