Suspects bragged on social media about road rage killing of 16-year-old: North Texas cops
Haltom City police are still looking for two more suspects in a road rage shooting that killed a 16-year-old.
Police announced on Tuesday, Nov. 12, that two suspects have been arrested. Investigators said they learned the suspects made social media videos in which they bragged about and reenacted the shooting.
Homicide detectives investigated the Sept. 15 shooting for about two months before Jasue Moreno and Juan Perez, both 21, were arrested on charges including murder, police said.
The victim, Raul Gonzalez Jr., died at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth eight days after he was shot. A search warrant affidavit revealed more details of how the investigation unfolded.
Police suspect that the road rage began when Gonzalez was in a Chrysler 300 driven by his brother, according to the affidavit. As they were turning left out of a parking lot near the 4000 block of East Belknap Street, they came close to striking an older model Honda Accord and cut off the driver, according to court documents.
Both cars were then seen accelerating on surveillance video and the shots were fired when the cars were side-by-side traveling eastbound, police said.
Multiple gunshots were heard in surveillance footage that Haltom City police obtained from the nearby Seabreeze Motel, police said. Officers found casings from a handgun and a rifle that they believe Moreno and Perez fired at the Chrysler 300.
Police received a Flock camera alert on the Honda’s license plate, and further investigation revealed that Moreno had recently been seen driving the vehicle and he had been arrested on charges of marijuana possession and unlawful carrying of a weapon in October 2022, according to the affidavit.
“They spent many hours tracking the vehicle and trying to piece everything together and that part was key,” Haltom City police Sgt. Rick Alexander said. “The rest was just all manpower on the part of the detectives, and they did a good job.”
During an interview with police, Moreno lied about selling the Honda two months before the shooting, the affidavit states. Police said they later found the car hidden in the overgrown back yard of a vacant home near his Fort Worth neighborhood.
Police said that the suspects tried to disguise the vehicle using spray paint.
Moreno’s phone had also been seized by detectives during the investigation, which provided further information that tied him and Perez to the crime, Alexander said.
“Specifically, there were videos, social media postings where they were essentially bragging about what they did,” he said.
Moreno was arrested at his workplace on Nov. 8 and faces charges of murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and fabricating physical evidence.
Perez was arrested in Fort Worth on Nov. 12 and faces charges of murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Police said there were four people in the Honda at the time of the shooting and they are still looking for additional suspects.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Haltom City Police Department at 817-222-7000. You can also email Detective Key directly at dkey@haltomcitytx.com or call his direct line at 817-222-7034. Anonymous tips can also be submitted through 469tips.com or by calling 817-469-8477.