Murder suspect arrested in Fort Worth home invasion shooting that left one man dead
A 25-year-old Fort Worth man accused in a January home invasion that left one man dead was booked into jail Friday morning, according to jail records.
Detectives believe the suspect was one of three men who stormed into the home on the afternoon of Jan. 9 in the 3700 block of 6th Avenue.
Jail records and a warrant identified the suspect as Marcus Pena, who was shot and wounded during the killing and robbery of 32-year-old Gustavo Perez.
Pena denied have a handgun that afternoon and said his two friends also were not armed, according to an arrest warrant obtained Friday by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The warrant was written by Fort Worth Detective P.A. Vega.
Pena claimed to only have money on him and said he and his friends had gone to the home to buy “exotic weed,” according to the warrant.
As they waited in a car, Pena said, “(a suspect) wanted some weed too, so he walked the suspect to the back door and introduced him to the dealer.” The name of the other suspect was redacted in the warrant.
Pena said he walked away as Perez strolled past him to the back door. He then heard a “commotion” and two gunshots, according to the warrant.
Pena ran to the back door when he was shot. He jumped into a car, which took him to a local hospital.
When Fort Worth police arrived, Perez was found lying in the front yard of the home on 6th Avenue. Multiple fired casings were found in the back yard and a Taurus handgun was lying on the ground near a back patio.
Police also found multiple guns inside of the home.
A witness in the house told detectives he had been at the home for several hours and at one point stepped outside, where a man walked up to him and asked if they sold weed.
The witness told the man they didn’t, and the witness left the home for a short time, he said.
The witness later returned and he was in the house when Perez attempted to close a back door, but he couldn’t, according to the warrant. At that time, three men entered the house, one armed with handgun, the witness said. The armed man began shooting.
The witness told police he never fired a weapon or sold drugs at the house.
Fort Worth detectives on Jan. 29 received results from latent prints on the magazine from the Taurus handgun, which matched Pena’s fingerprints. The handgun was found in the back yard and a live round was jammed in the gun, meaning it had been fired, the warrant said.
Pena faces a charge of capital murder in the case.
