Caesar Tijerina had been identified as one of two outstanding suspects in the April killing of a San Antonio teen walking home from school.
SAN ANTONIO — One of the suspects wanted in connection to Simon Cuevas’ murder in west San Antonio earlier this year has died after police say he shot himself in Laredo last week.
Caesar Tijerina, 20, was subsequently flown to a San Antonio hospital in critical condition after suffering a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head Friday morning, officials at the time said. Authorities in Laredo had responded to a home in the 5000 block of Palmito Drive around 4 a.m. for reports of an attempt suicide when they found Tijerina and discovered he had an active warrant for Cuevas’ killing.
On Monday afternoon, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office listed Tijerina as having died from his injuries.
“My prayers were for the capture of all the suspects, but not in this manner,” Alejandra Cuevas, Simon’s mother, said in a social media post Friday afternoon, after the news that Tijerina was hospitalized.
“She didn’t want this,” added a San Antonio pastor, speaking on Alejandra’s behalf. “She wants justice for Simon, but this is not the way she wanted it.”
Simon, 14, was walking home from Brewer Academy in the area of South Elmendorf and Merida on April 16 when police say he was jumped by several students, attacked and shot dead. Months went by without an arrest before 18-year-old Fernando Flores – suspected of pulling the trigger – was taken into custody on Aug. 14.
Upon Flores’ arrest, San Antonio police identified Tijerina as another suspect, as well as a juvenile suspect whose name wasn’t released due to his age.