A 22-year-old man in Texas has confessed to killing his uncle, an Independent School District police dispatcher who raised him “as their own son,” because he felt “unwelcomed and unloved” by him, according to prosecutors.
Antonio Guzman, the nephew of victim Jose Torres’ wife, is accused of shooting the 37-year-old in the face multiple times at Torres’ home in the northwest Houston neighborhood of Spring Branch on Friday after meeting him alone, according to Harris County prosecutors.
According to court filings in Texas’ 497th Judicial District Court, Guzman allegedly confessed to killing his uncle because of how he was treated after being arrested by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday.
“[Torres] and his wife had raised Defendant as their own son,” prosecutors claimed in a November 17 motion for sufficient bail. “Defendant arrived at [Torres’] home and shot and killed [Torres] while the two were alone.” The defendant later admitted to shooting [Torres] because he felt unwelcome and unloved by [Torres].
According to prosecutors, Guzman shot his uncle several times in the face and “upper extremities” before abandoning him to die. His body was discovered upon his aunt’s return home, after she had not heard from Torres all day and had asked Torres’ mother to pick her and their children up from work and school.
“[Torres] did not pick up his wife or children from work or school and was not answering the phone,” according to a probable cause for further detention order issued on November 17. “Wife called [Torres’] mother to take them home, where they found [Torres] on the floor, bloody, unresponsive and cold.”
According to prosecutors, Guzman’s aunt told police that the young man had a gun, “anger control issues,” and a noticeable limp caused by a “foot ailment,” which was captured on surveillance video as he fled the murder scene.
Deputies from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office were able to track down Guzman through his escape vehicle, and he was arrested and charged with murder on Sunday. He was being held on a $200,000 bond Monday and was ordered by a judge not to contact his family if released.
Torres, a dispatcher for the Spring Branch Independent School District Police Department, was remembered by his colleagues in a Facebook post on Saturday.
“Jose leaves behind a wife and two beautiful daughters,” the department said in a separate statement to local NBC affiliate KPRC. “He was taken from us by a senseless act of violence while he worked to make a better life for his family.”
Neighbors claim Torres was trimming trees outside his house before he was killed.
“He was by himself,” local Sheldon Bolmar told Fox affiliate KRIV. “And that was it.”
Guzman, who has no prior criminal history, waived his first appearance in probable cause court over the weekend, according to local reports. He is scheduled to appear again on Tuesday.
