SAN ANTONIO – A 20-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a fatal drive-by shooting earlier this month on the West Side, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Rafael Ricardo Jesus Almendarez is charged with capital murder and two counts of aggravated kidnapping, Bexar County court records show.
The shooting happened just after 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 11 in the 400 block of Southlawn Avenue, near Ceralvo Street.
San Antonio police officers were conducting a traffic stop on a vehicle one block away when they heard multiple gunshots, the warrant stated. The victim, identified as 44-year-old Antonio Sanchez, was found dead in the street.
Witnesses told officers that one person wearing black and another wearing red shot Sanchez and then fled in a silver Toyota Camry. SAPD-issued documents said Almendarez was the registered owner of the vehicle.
The warrant said that two witnesses, who were Sanchez’s friends, told police that Almendarez and another person broke into their home. The witnesses reported that they were assaulted and held at gunpoint in an attempt to “lure” Sanchez to the location.
Upon further investigation, officers were able to identify a person as Almendarez’s brother, who assisted him in the crime, the warrant said. They allegedly made plans inside the home and waited for Sanchez to arrive.
Video footage allegedly showed Almendarez’s brother, later identified in the affidavit as “Marc,” shoot Sanchez while Almendarez held a rifle and burglarized the victim’s vehicle, the warrant stated.
Almendarez was taken into custody at a later unspecified date after he attempted to flee from a traffic stop, the arrest affidavit said. He allegedly admitted to officers that he had driven the Toyota Camry used in the murder.
Officers then executed a search warrant on Almendarez’s vehicle and found his cellphone. The warrant said that he had made calls to his brother before and after the shooting of Sanchez.
Almendarez was booked into the Bexar County jail on a combined $600,000 bond, court records indicate.
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