
Emmanuel Menchaca was shot 3 times in the back on July 17. “This whole event really changed my life by changing everything I used to do,” the victim said on Monday.
HOUSTON — Hours after an 18-year-old Houston boy talked about the shooting that changed his life, KHOU 11 confirmed that charges have been filed against his neighbor.
John Martin Dixon faces two counts of aggravated assault in the July 17 shooting of Emmanuel Menchaca. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
The teen was critically injured at his home on Belgard Street north of Bellfort Avenue in the South Park area. Police said Menchaca and his younger brother were burying their pet guinea pig, Cookie, in their yard when the victim was shot three times in the back.
Menchaca, who was just weeks away from heading to college, spent weeks in the ICU.
“This whole event really changed my life by changing everything I used to do. Before all this, I used to be really physical, going out and staying busy,” Menchaca said Monday at a news conference with FIEL. “Now, I just wake up and can’t really do much.”
Since the shooting, FIEL had been working with the family to demand charges against Martin. They said Menchaca’s 12-year-old brother witnessed the shooting and identified the neighbor as the alleged gunman.
‘I’m not going to make it’
That morning, Emmanuel’s mom told KHOU 11 that he came into her bedroom and was bleeding.
“He said, ‘Mom, I love you, Dad, I love you, I’m not going to make it,'” Andrea said.
She didn’t understand why her son was shot.
“He buried the guinea pig on my property, never stepped foot, never laid a hand on the resident’s property,” Andrea told us.
Watch the update HPD gave at the scene: