HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Houston police say a man, who is on the run for 16 years and wanted for two murders, is back in the city and booked into the Harris County jail thanks to a tip about his whereabouts.
The suspect, Juan Gonzalez Jr., 44, was charged with two counts of murder in separate fatal shooting incidents in 2007 and 2008, according to court records.
The court records from March 2008 are chilling.
According to them, 16-year-old Kevin Alfred, who is a rival gang member, was walking with two other people in Houston. When Gonzalez drove up, he opened the car door and told the teen that he had something for him and began shooting. Alfred then ran, and Gonzalez drove after him, blocking his escape, and fired again. Moments later, Alfred died, and Gonzalez was arrested and charged with the teen’s murder.
ABC13 spoke to the family back in 2008 and was shocked by what happened next. Gonzalez was given a $75,000 bond and posted it the same day, walking out of jail.
“I guess they’re just trying to tell him to go ahead. ‘Run free, get out of Texas, or something,'” a family member, who spoke to ABC13 anonymously back in 2008, said.
Gonzalez was given a court date, but it’s unclear if he showed up or was already on the run.
“There’s going to be more deaths. There’s going to be a lot more killings,” the family member said.
After Gonzalez walked out of jail, he was linked to a 2007 murder that happened not far from the murder he’s accused of committing a year later.
According to a police report, Gonzales shot and killed an accomplice during a home invasion. ABC13 was there 17 years ago and spoke to police.
“Around 1 p.m., some residents reported hearing several gunshots outside of their home. After that, there was a male outside the residence that had been shot,” police said during the night of the murder.
Nearly two decades later, police said they got a tip that Gonzalez was in Morelos, Mexico. They arrested him on the last day of August and brought him back to Harris County, where he’s booked into jail and charged with both murders.
The DA’s office told ABC13 that Gonzalez is scheduled for a special hearing in October during which prosecutors will ask a judge to hold Gonzalez without bail.
When ABC13 spoke to Gonzalez’s attorney in 2008, he said that the DA didn’t ask for that hearing, allowing the judge to deny the request in probable cause court that Gonzalez not get bail.
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