BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – A man is behind bars on a $2.3 million bond after fatally shooting his neighbors — an 11-year-old boy and his older brother — in their own driveway Tuesday evening on the far West Side, according to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar.
On Wednesday, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the two as Maliki Perales, 11, and Drayven Quiroz, 20.
The two brothers were backing the family car out of their driveway around 7:30 p.m. in the 9800 block of Acadian Drive, near Kriewald Road, when the suspect, Daniel Antonio Perez, crossed the street from his home and opened fire on the vehicle, Salazar said.
Perales and Quiroz were rushed to a hospital in critical condition. During a Wednesday news conference, Salazar said Maliki died Tuesday night, and Quiroz was pronounced dead Wednesday morning, moments before the start of the conference.
Perales died from a gunshot wound to the head and torso, the medical examiner’s office said Wednesday. His death was ruled a homicide.
Quiroz’s cause and manner of death are still pending.
“Unbeknownst to them, they had what I would categorize as a ticking time bomb right across the street from them,” Salazar said. “And really had no warning whatsoever — is my understanding.”
After shooting the two brothers, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said Perez turned his attention to two other siblings who were standing near the front door of the family’s home — a 14-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl.
“Thankfully, he missed them,” Salazar said.
Perez, 40, faces two counts of capital murder, one count of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury and four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to court records. His next court appearance is tentatively set for Nov. 3.
After the shooting, Perez fled on foot, BCSO said. Ring doorbell footage from a nearby home captured Perez frantically knocking on a neighbor’s door, claiming he didn’t want to be killed, appearing to suggest self-defense.
Investigators said the evidence tells a different story.
Perez called 911 while on the run, telling dispatchers he had shot his neighbors, but he didn’t tell them where he was.
“The only reason we found him is because we were able to utilize his cellphone signal to ping where he was,” Salazar said. “It’s not like he confessed and told us and laid down. Deputies still had to confront him and give him orders at gunpoint to surrender himself.”
Deputies located Perez about a quarter mile from the scene, hiding in a stranger’s backyard. The gun was recovered several houses away in a nearby drainage culvert.
Salazar said Perez’s family told BCSO he had gone through mental health crises before, including depression and episodes of seeing things that were not there.
A BCSO spokesperson told KSAT when deputies made contact with Perez, his speech and movements were noticeably off.
However, the sheriff was clear — a mental health crisis does not erase criminal responsibility.
“While clearly there’s some sort of a mental health crisis going on, he still had the presence of mind and the culpable mental state to go conceal the weapon somewhere and then go conceal himself somewhere else,” Salazar said.
Perez does not appear to have a prior criminal record, according to investigators. He is currently being held at the Bexar County Adult Detention Center.
Neighbors described the victims’ family as warm and welcoming.
“These folks fed the neighborhood,” Salazar said.
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