Trio now face capital murder charge in shooting that claimed 2 lives

Second victim, Benito Gallegos, 69, died Sunday morning

SAN ANTONIO – Three men are now facing a capital murder charge for a Feb. 2 West Side shooting that killed a 14-year-old boy, and now, a second person, who died Sunday morning.

Richard Montez, Juan Martinez and Andres Martinez were all originally charged with aggravated assault following the shooting and subsequent standoff at the Cassiano Homes apartment complex. Montez claimed they started firing after a male got out of a car and made a threatening movement, though new details in arrest documents paint a different story.

RELATED: Man thought to have been 'grazed' by stray bullet in West Side shooting dies 

Police said two people were injured in the shooting. Angel Gebara, 14, was shot in the head as a bullet crashed through his apartment window. He died on Feb. 4.

Benito Gallegos, 69, a passenger in a car, was also hit in the back off the head, though police apparently did not realize at first how badly he was injured. He died Sunday at a hospice facility.

RELATED: 14-year-old West Side shooting victim dies; arrest documents shed new light 

Montez has remained in jail since his original arrest. Andres Martinez went before a magistrate judge on a capital murder warrant Sunday afternoon.

Andres Martinez's arrest documents reveal new details about the shooting.

A 60-year-old man giving Gallegos a ride home told police that he had gotten lost and stopped in the roadway. The driver said he was approached by a group of males, though the arrest affidavit does not specifically identify them as the three suspects, whom he told that he was lost.

RELATED: Second victim in deadly West Side shooting in worse condition than originally reported

The driver told police one of the males grabbed a necklace off his neck and punched him in the side of the head. He said he sped off as the males began shooting at them.

Police found an apparent bullet hole in both the car's back window and in the passenger side head rest, where Gallegos had been sitting.

The driver's account bears some similarities to what Montez told police. He said a male got out of a car driving by and was looking at the two suspects. Montez told police the three of them opened fire after the male made a threatening movement.

The trio were arrested after a standoff at a nearby apartment.

Speaking to reporters on the scene after the standoff, Police Chief William McManus said Gallegos had only been grazed.

However, Gallegos' family said he collapsed after arriving at University Hospital, and a bullet was found to be stuck in the back off his head. Surgery to remove it would have carried the risk of paralysis or death, they said.

Gallegos was transferred on Friday, Feb. 16, to a hospice facility and taken off of life support, his family said. He died there on Sunday at 4:33 a.m..

The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office has not examined Gallegos's body yet to determine an official cause of death.


About the Author

Garrett Brnger is a reporter with KSAT 12.

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