The last of four suspects accused of killing a 14-year-old Robstown teen on Nov. 18 has been identified and is in custody, Robstown Police Chief Mike Tamez said April 1.
Gauge Lopez, 17, is accused of capital murder.
Tamez shared an update on Facebook on the investigation into the killing of 14-year-old Shawn Sanchez. Sanchez was shot six times in front of the Figueroa Square Apartments on Ruben Chavez Road in Robstown in a drive-by shooting.
“This has been a long process, and, hopefully, working side by side with our Nueces County District Attorney’s Office, we will be able to receive justice for the Sanchez family,” Tamez said in the Facebook video update.
Lopez was the fourth person taken into custody over the course of the four-month-long investigation. The others were Dominic Guzman, 23; Elias Eric Rivera, 19; and one 14-year-old juvenile who has been not been named due to their age.
Police took Guzman, Rivera and the juvenile suspect into custody in November. Nueces County Jail records indicate that Rivera was arrested in relation to a robbery shortly after the shooting. Lopez was booked on April 1.
According to previous Caller-Times reporting, police said they believe the suspects lured Sanchez out of the Figueroa Apartments, where the teen was visiting his girlfriend, with a text or call. When Sanchez came outside, three individuals exited a truck belonging to Rivera and confronted him. Sanchez was shot six times by at least two of the individuals, according to police.
Police have previously stated they believe the shooting of Sanchez was connected to an earlier shooting and might have been retaliation.
Sanchez allegedly knew the suspect arrested in connection to the shooting of a 16-year-old boy that occurred in Robstown just two days earlier.
As of 10 a.m. April 2, the murder case against Lopez was still in the pre-file status, which means court records had not yet been updated with formal charges.
Guzman has been indicted for capital murder. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for May 6.
Rivera has been indicted for murder.
Court records indicate Lopez is also accused of misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury in a separate case. The case status for this charge is listed as “pre-information.”
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Robstown police name fourth suspect in Nov. 18 shooting of 14-year-old
Reporting by Olivia Garrett, Corpus Christi Caller Times / Corpus Christi Caller Times
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