Fort Worth teens accused of murder shot men in self-defense outside party, father says
Two teens accused of shooting to death two men early Sunday in a northwest Fort Worth neighborhood were trying to defend themselves after the men started beating them up, the father of one of the teens said Tuesday.
Noah DeLa Cruz, 17, was walking home with a friend when they were confronted by the two men, who were at a nearby party in the 6200 block of Topsail Drive, the father said, according to what his son told him.
“There already had been drama at that place because there was alcohol there,” said Paul DeLa Cruz, the father of Noah DeLa Cruz, in a telephone interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Tuesday.
Paul DeLa Cruz contacted the Star-Telegram after reading a news account of the shooting.
“My son isn’t some cold killer who went to a party to shoot up these men,” Paul DeLa Cruz said.
Paul DeLa Cruz said his son told him that Angel Cruz Hernandez, 31, and Tommy Lee James Wallace, 27, confronted the teens in a yard and began beating them. He doesn’t know if the teens said anything to the men.
“My son and his friend weren’t at the party,” Paul DeLa Cruz said. “They were headed home.”
Fort Worth police said Tuesday that the men and teens got into a verbal argument that escalated into a physical fight and then the shooting about 1:40 a.m. Hernandez and Wallace were both shot in the chest and died at a local hospital, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. A woman also was wounded in the shooting, but she survived, police said.
Noah DeLa Cruz was arrested Sunday evening, and his friend Johnathan Loyola, 17, also was taken into custody Sunday after detectives completed interviews with witnesses.
Noah DeLa Cruz and Loyola remained in the Tarrant County Jail on Tuesday on $100,000 bond. They both face charges of murder.
Arrest warrants for the two teens were not available for release on Tuesday, police said. Warrants typically include more details of the police investigation and how detectives believe the killings happened.
Noah DeLa Cruz’s mother told the Star-Telegram on Tuesday that an Uber dropped off the boys near their home early Sunday.
“I don’t know if someone yelled at the boys or what, but they walked over to the party,” DeLa Cruz’s mother said. She spoke on the condition her name not be used for fear of retaliation.
She was asleep at the time of the shooting, she said.
At some point, Noah DeLa Cruz’s parents said, the boys were struck or knocked down by the men while in the street.
The boys are accused of shooting the men during the fight.
“He (Noah) ran back to the house and told me to call 911,” DeLa Cruz’s mother said as she cried on the phone. “He’s only a kid, and he’s never been in trouble.”
Paul DeLa Cruz said his son and his friend had handguns.
“I don’t condone the loss of lives here,” Paul DeLa Cruz said. “But I’m glad that my son is alive.”
The families of Hernandez, Wallace and Loyola couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.
