Teenage boy in Texas is being charged as an adult after he reportedly killed the girl’s stepfather because she turned him down when he tried to date her.
On Friday, the Houston Police Department said that officers had arrested Cristian Gasca Martinez for murder in the death of Osvaldo Casas, who was 37 years old.
It is said that Gasca Martinez shot Casas just before 12:30 a.m. on August 10 in the 600 block of Loper Street in southeast Houston.
When police arrived, they found Casas badly hurt from being shot several times. The paramedics said he was dead at the scene.
At the time, police said Casas had talked to a “suspicious” person on his street before the killing. An investigation found that Gasca Martinez had been interested in dating Casas’ 16-year-old granddaughter, but she told him she wasn’t interested, according to a complaint.
Gasca Martinez is said to have started following the girl around. A courtroom report from local CBS station KHOU says he kept calling the girl even though she told him to stop, and she had to block his number.
He is also said to have made threats on social media by sharing pictures of himself with a gun. The court charge said that Gasca Martinez then shot Casas “in response to being turned down by the girl.”
Judith Molina, the victim’s wife, wrote on a GoFundMe page that her husband died “bravely protecting our family.”
What made things even worse was that Molina and Casas were going to have a boy. On August 20, Casas’s family buried him. Molina had a boy three days after giving birth.
“Osvaldo was thrilled at the thought of meeting his bundle of joy and becoming a dad,” she wrote.
“A man of deep love and kindness,” she called her husband.
Molina said, “He was loved by so many in our community and never hesitated to lend a hand.” He was also a huge Dallas Cowboys fan.
His bond was set at $200,000 by a judge. On Thursday, police arrested him and took him to the Harris County Jail, where he is still being held.
Molina told KHOU that she was glad the suspect had been caught.
She said, “I know that arresting him won’t bring him back, but I’m glad someone did it.”
