A 15-year-old boy is charged with capital murder after police say he fatally shot his ex-girlfriend’s mother and two siblings at a North Odessa apartment Tuesday.
ODESSA, Texas — A 15-year-old boy has been arrested and charged with capital murder of multiple persons in connection with a triple homicide at a North Odessa apartment complex Tuesday evening, according to the Odessa Police Department.
Officers were called around 5:45 p.m. to the 87th Street Apartments on Hunter Miller Way for reports of a shooting. When police arrived minutes later, they found three people dead inside an apartment: 39-year-old Jessica Rodriguez, her 9-year-old son and her 13-year-old daughter.
Police say the teen suspect — whose name has not been released because he is a juvenile — had previously dated Rodriguez’s 15-year-old daughter. Investigators say he originally planned to target the girl outside her school but instead went to her home. Police believe he entered the apartment and shot Rodriguez and the two younger children before leaving on foot.
The suspect was detained around 6:26 p.m. on Andrews Highway, roughly 40 minutes after the shooting, and later taken to the Ector County Youth Center.
Odessa Police Chief Mike Gerke said the attack was deliberate.
“It was such a tragic and cowardly act of violence,” Gerke said during a Wednesday media briefing. “It’s the kind of thing that really marks a community. Particularly in this holiday season, it’s a hurtful, horrible thing.”
Police say no gang affiliations or gang motivations are suspected. Investigators recovered a handgun believed to have been used in the shooting. Gerke said the department is actively working to confirm how the teen obtained the firearm and whether anyone else may have known about his plans.
According to Gerke, the suspect’s former girlfriend was not physically injured but is considered a survivor of traumatic loss.
“Physically she was unharmed,” he said. “But saying she’s ‘OK’ would be a misnomer after what happened to her family.”
Investigators say the teen had at least one prior police contact — an argument involving another family member — but nothing that signaled a threat of violence. Gerke said there is no indication school officials knew of any plan to target the girl or that a weapon had ever been brought onto campus.
Authorities say anyone who helped provide the firearm, or who knew about the alleged plan, could face charges.
The teen remains in custody. Whether he will be tried as an adult will be determined by prosecutors; if that happens, his name could be released publicly.
The investigation remains ongoing.