Keryan Rashad Jones is being held behind bars in Eagle Pass in connection with the Saturday night shooting at the popular South Texas casino.
SAN ANTONIO — As the investigation into the deadly weekend shooting at Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino continues, prosecutors are beginning to mount a legal case against Keryan Rashad Jones. Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber said he has been assigned bonds totaling $4.5 million.
Authorities say Jones, a 34-year-old San Antonio man, opened fire outside the casino in Eagle Pass, Texas, late Saturday night, killing two people and leaving five others hurt. The victims included a 22-year-old and 59-year-old woman who were taken to San Antonio to be treated for their injuries.
Several law enforcement agencies, including the Maverick County Sheriff’s Office and Eagle Pass Police Department, responded to the popular South Texas casino when the shots rang out around 11:48 p.m., and Kickapoo Tribal Police are leading the investigation.
Schmerber said Jones was inside the casino at some point Saturday night before he allegedly started shooting outside near the entrance.
But there remains more questions than answers at this point about Jones and why he opened fire on guests in the parking lot. He remains in custody in Eagle Pass after being arrested in Wilson County on Sunday morning; meanwhile, local and federal officers swarmed the Tuscany Parc Apartments in north San Antonio, looking for evidence in the apartment Jones stayed in.
They haven’t said what they found and the suspect doesn’t have much of a profile on national law enforcement databases. As far as what’s publicly available, there’s a lone 2018 speeding ticket issued in Texas and a four-year-old small claims case when he was accused of not paying $1,300 in rent in Oklahoma.
Jones faces two counts of capital murder and five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
A ‘chill’ neighbor, a dramatic arrest
Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Jones’ neighbors called him “chill,” saying he and his dogs were friendly denizens.
Lyndi Goen lives in the same building where his unit was raided Sunday; she said she hid in a back room when she saw armed officers taking over the area.
“We would let our dogs play and we would just say, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ to him, my boyfriend and I,” Goen said. “He seemed really nice. He had these really well-behaved dogs and so we thought he was a cool guy. It’s pretty crazy.”
Neighbors in Wilson County say that’s a stark contrast to the way the arrest unfolded on an isolated farm to market road Sunday. At the intersection of U.S. 87 and State Highway 123 in Stockdale, officers confronted Jones at a Circle K parking lot and fired a few shots, but they said the man kept driving his disabled vehicle until they were able to force him off the road, bringing the incident to a stop almost 200 miles from the Kickapoo Casino parking lot.
One resident, Ann, said she heard a commotion outside her usually quiet home and found the pursuit coming to an end.
“I walked out and there were all kinds of lights and policemen and ambulances, and more were coming on the scene all the time,” she said. “I had no idea what happened. There was a sheriff parked right on the street. I went and asked her, and she told me they had it under control.”
Who were the victims?
We’re also starting to learn more about the two people killed in the shooting.
Eagle Pass leaders identified one of them as Marcus “Mark” Antley, a retired U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent who was a beloved member of the community. The other victim, Alicia Sanchez of Dimmit County, was a mother of several children, according to her relatives.
