Man pleads guilty in bizarre Euless murder involving tattoos, prosecutors say
A suspect charged in the 2021 shooting of an Arlington man pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 50 years in prison, Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells announced in a social media post last week.
The suspect forcibly tattooed the name of the victim’s girlfriend on the victim’s neck before shooting him, prosecutors said.
Benjamin Delgadillo, 24, was one of four suspects charged in the February 2021 killing of 22-year-old Younis Alhassinyani. He was sentenced Nov. 29 after entering the guilty plea.
At his girlfriend’s apartment on the morning of Feb. 2, 2021, one of Alhassinyani’s tattoos was defaced and he was forced to have his girlfriend’s name tattooed on him, according to police. He left the apartment with four men who had guns and his body was found dead two days later in a drainage creek near Texas 360 in Euless.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Alhassinyani’s girlfriend, Erika Perez, was upset with him after finding out he had taken pictures of her credit cards and discovered he was seeing other women.
Known drug dealers had also become upset with Alhassinyani, the affidavit stated.
At around 1 a.m. on Feb. 2, Alhassinyani called his mother and asked for a ride home from Perez’s apartment in Arlington, where he spent most of his time, the affidavit said.
A relative was sent to pick him up, but Alhassinyani never provided an address.
Days after, Alhassinyani’s relatives repeatedly went to Perez’s apartment, trying to find him. Perez told them he had left her apartment at 1 a.m. on Feb. 2
No one saw him after that, the affidavit said.
Perez later told Arlington police that she was being harassed and threatened by Alhassinyani’s family as they tried to find him.
Detectives learned that on the night of Feb. 1, Perez posted a video on Facebook Live, inviting people to come over to her apartment for an all-night tattoo session.
At some point that night, a tattoo artist who was at Perez’s apartment told detectives he was giving a tattoo to a man when Perez got into an argument with Alhassinyani after she found her personal information on his phone, according to the affidavit.
In the video, a tattoo artist appeared to be trying to shade the word “Side” on Alhassinyani’s back. He had the words “South Side” tattooed on his back and the Arlington city logo across his shoulder blades.
Within seconds, another person — identified as Delgadillo — grabbed the tattoo gun and started defacing Alhassinyani’s tattoo.
“Do it little softer,” Alhassinyani said, according to the warrant, and the tattoo artist added, “He said to do it a little softer, what the hell.” But Delgadillo didn’t, according to the video. The tattoo artist then grabbed the tattoo gun back and wrote “Erika” on Alhassinyani’s neck.
Four gunmen then forced Alhassinyani into a vehicle and drove to Euless, authorities said.
Before taking him, Alhassinyani asked them, “Can I just call my mother to take me home?”
They said no and told him, “We will take you home,” according to the affidavit.
Initially, Alhassinyani refused to get out of the car, but he got out and was shot, according to the affidavit.
Justin Jax Salinas and Pedro Angel Ramirez were also arrested and charged with capital murder in the shooting of Alhassinyani. Perez was arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping, making a false report, failing to report a felony and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Perez was convicted of aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon in May 2022 and sentenced to five years, according to court records.
Rodriguez pleaded guilty to murder in August 2022 and was sentenced to 30 years.
Salinas is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, at which time a trial date may be set, according to court records. He faces a charge of capital murder.
This story was originally published November 29, 2023 at 9:59 PM.
