SAN ANTONIO – Testimony from a relative on Thursday revealed that he saw his little cousin minutes before he was shot on the Southwest Side and thought he may have been the initial target of the shooting, not the child.
Rene Blancas Jr., 3, was shot and killed in 2017 after a single gunshot was fired into the vehicle he was in with his family.
Eric Trevińo was arrested and charged with the murder a little over a month after the shooting.
Jackdaniel Hernandez testified that he saw his cousin Rene Blancas Sr.’s car at a stop sign and pulled up to talk to him and his family, which included Rene Blancas Jr.
He said they talked for about four to five minutes when another vehicle pulled up behind him, and he proceeded to take off. Before leaving, he said he noticed the person in the vehicle had turned off their headlights but didn’t think much of it.
Hernandez found out five minutes later that someone inside the car had been shot, and he believed he may have been the initial target at the time.
Hernandez said he and his wife were going through a divorce and had been arguing that night, and she started sending him threatening texts.
“The text said, ‘I got you. Payback’s a bitch,’” Hernandez testified.
Before the shooting, Hernandez said an acquaintance of his wife had shot at his house and car.
Despite that, the night Rene Blancas Jr. was shot, Hernandez said he couldn’t get a look at the vehicle that had pulled up behind him and couldn’t identify Eric Treviño as the suspect.
If Treviño is found guilty, he faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The trial will be on recess and resume next Monday morning.
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