SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio teen charged in connection with a recent shooting and separate standoff also has ties to the death of a 22-year-old woman in Converse, according to court records.
Joe-Isaac Lee Yanez, 19, was arrested late Sunday after Texas DPS said he fled from officers who were trying to conduct a traffic stop on the East Side.
At the time, Yanez had been wanted on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and deadly conduct with a firearm for a drive-by shooting, records show. That’s in addition to two separate counts of theft of a firearm.
He remains in the Bexar County Jail with bonds totaling $220,000.
In the arrest warrant affidavits for firearm theft charges, the documents spell out details in the Converse shooting that killed Khadija Derry on Wednesday evening — and why detectives believe Yanez may be involved.
While he has not been charged with Derry’s death, the affidavits state an uncle of Derry — who is a Bexar County Sheriff’s Office deputy — named Yanez and another teen as possible suspects.
Converse Police Investigations Lt. Jeff Shook told KSAT on Wednesday that the department would not be commenting on the investigation, though he confirmed CPD was being assisted by the Department of Public Safety.
Shook could not confirm or deny Yanez was a suspect in Derry’s murder, though court and police documents show him tied up in a web of violent crime.
Yanez’s affidavits detail Converse shooting
Just before 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Derry was shot while sitting in her vehicle outside a home in the 8900 block of Arundal Garden in Converse. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Surveillance footage from a neighbor showed a four-door vehicle pull up near the home as a driver and passenger exited. They ran to Derry’s car and opened fire, according to the affidavits for Yanez’s theft charges.
The gunmen shot about 18-20 times at Derry’s car, ran back to their vehicle and fled, the affidavits state. Both 9 mm and 5.56-caliber spent casings were found at the scene.
Derry’s uncle, the BCSO deputy who owns the house, told Texas Rangers that after speaking with relatives, he believed Yanez and an 18-year-old boy were involved in Derry’s death. Another relative said her family had received threats earlier that day due to an ongoing dispute.
The following day, the uncle provided Texas Rangers with an Instagram video that appeared to show Yanez at the crime scene, the affidavits state.
The video, recorded by an Instagram account under the “murder power respect murder gang 5,” shows someone saying, “That’s the car, ay that’s the car,” investigators said.
The person recording the video exits the car and leaves the phone recording in the vehicle. Moments later, the sound of gunfire is heard in the video, and the gunmen are seen re-entering the car.
The man recording the video is heard saying something similar to “hold my switch.”
An investigation into the Instagram account led Texas Rangers to an IP address for a woman who lives at an apartment complex at Loop 410 and Palo Alto Road on the Southwest Side, where Yanez also lives, records show.
Texas Rangers spoke to a police officer with San Antonio ISD, who was able to identify Yanez as a former student. Investigators wrote in an affidavit that Yanez appeared to be the same person in the video.
Stolen firearms found in Yanez’s bedroom
Texas Rangers surveilled Yanez’s apartment on the Southwest Side and noticed a four-door vehicle matching the car in the Arundal Garden surveillance video leave the complex. The affidavit said the vehicle had the same physical characteristics, like distinct rims, seen at the shooting.
Texas Rangers checked its license plates and found the car was registered to someone who lives with the 18-year-old person of interest previously identified by the victim’s uncle.
Texas Rangers and SWAT officers executed a search warrant at the apartment and found 9 mm, 5.56-caliber and 7.62-caliber rounds inside Yanez’s bedroom, the affidavit states.
Authorities said they also found a 9 mm pistol with a 30-round magazine with a “switch” attached to it and a .22-caliber revolver. The guns turned out to be stolen out of San Antonio, investigators said.
The warrants for his arrest on the firearm theft charges were signed on Saturday.
Teen murder suspect found at apartment
When investigators searched Yanez’s apartment, the only one there was a 16-year-old with six arrest warrants, including one for murder out of San Antonio.
San Antonio Police on Wednesday confirmed his warrant was tied to the Aug. 30 shooting of Michael Molina, 61, in the 3300 block of Bob Billa. Molina’s grandson told investigators he believed he was the intended target.
A neighbor fired back during the shooting, apparently hitting the 16-year-old suspect. According to a police report, he was dropped off at an emergency room with a gunshot wound to his right shoulder.
A second suspect, Tristan Avery Lerma, 18, was arrested for Molina’s murder on Dec. 1.
Yanez charged in unrelated shooting
Yanez was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and deadly conduct with a firearm for an unrelated shooting on Thursday -- the day after Derry’s murder.
In that case, a 19-year-old man was at a Circle K gas station in the 1700 block of North New Braunfels to pick up his girlfriend from work when he was shot. His six-month-old daughter was in the car with him.
One of the suspects yelled out the man’s name, and they opened fire at him in his vehicle, an affidavit states. About 28 rounds were fired at the vehicle.
The man was hit in his left arm, but the baby was not injured. A 44-year-old female employee was struck by glass from a window and also suffered an injury to her arm.
The man was able to identify Yanez as a suspect, according to San Antonio police, though the affidavit did not detail a motive for that shooting was not detailed in the affidavit.
The warrants for his arrest in that case were also signed on Saturday.
Another suspect in the shooting, 19-year-old Curtis Ray Wilson, was arrested on the same charges, records show.
The affidavit adds that at least four other people may be involved in the case.
Chase, standoff Sunday night leads to arrest
Yanez was taken into custody, along with Wilson, following a pursuit and standoff with Texas DPS on Sunday night.
Texas DPS said officers tried to conduct a traffic stop on a Ford Expedition at 7:30 p.m. near the intersection of Rigsby and Roland Avenues.
The driver refused to pull over and then crashed on Cody Street.
A man and a woman in the vehicle were detained at the scene, and two men ran to a house in the 500 block of Bee Street, near North Walters Street, according to DPS.
There, the suspects holed themselves up in two separate structures, according to Texas DPS. The house belonged to one of the suspects.
They later surrendered and were taken into custody before 11 p.m. Sunday.
The suspects were identified as Yanez, Wilson and 19-year-old Darnell Drey Shawn Randle.
All three were charged with evading arrest and detention, and San Antonio Police noted that the Ford Expedition from the chase matched the vehicle seen on surveillance video from the Dec. 7 Circle K shooting.
Yanez booked at the Bexar County Jail
As of Tuesday afternoon, Bexar County Jail records show Yanez was charged with:
- One count of evading arrest or detention, a Class A misdemeanor.
- Two counts of theft of a firearm, a state felony.
- One count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony.
- One count of deadly conduct with a firearm, a third-degree felony.
His bond is set at $222,000, records show. His preliminary hearings are set for January.