Jury gets eyewitness account of South Side murder

Witness says Dustin Osborne followed uncle's order to shoot man

SAN ANTONIO – A night of drinking and drug use at a North Side apartment complex ended with murder at a South Side home. That’s what the state’s first witness in the murder trial of Dustin Osborne, 20, told the jury.

Savannah Hardy, 22, said that as she and a group of friends drank alcohol and used drugs at the complex, Ralph Michael Lopez, 34, sent a chat to one of the group members, offering them drugs.

Hardy said they went to Lopez’s South Side home, and soon after arriving, Osborne and his uncle, Gabriel Aguilar, showed up. 

Hardy said that Aguilar’s girlfriend, who was among the group, refused to leave with Aguilar. She said that Lopez approached the car and confronted Aguilar.

“They were arguing and Michael (Lopez) punched Gabriel, and that’s when he told Dustin to shoot him,” Hardy testified. “I saw Dustin pull up the gun and he started shooting.”

Lopez was shot six times and died at the hospital a short time later.

“Did you ever hear anyone say, ‘Oh my God, he’s got a gun,’” prosecutor Josh Somers asked Hardy.

“No,” Hardy testified.

During opening arguments, Osborne’s lawyer, Pat Hancock, suggested otherwise.

“He lifted his shirt, and when he lifted his shirt, they thought that he had a gun. And that’s the time the uncle said, ‘Shoot him,’” Hancock said.

Hancock said that Osborne fired in self-defense.

“My client was protecting his uncle and some other occupants of the vehicle,” Hancock said.

Aguilar has also been charged with murder and is free on bond awaiting trial.

If he is found guilty, Osborne faces a maximum punishment of life in prison. Testimony is expected to continue of Wednesday in Judge Jefferson Moore’s 186th District Court.


About the Author:

Paul Venema is a courthouse reporter for KSAT with more than 25 years experience in the role.