Texas Teen Accused of Killing Ex-Girlfriend’s Family: ‘Evil Visited Us One More Time’
A teenage boy from Odessa, Texas, is behind bars for the fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend’s family.
The Odessa Police Department reported on Wednesday, December 10, that an unnamed teenage guy had been arrested and charged with the offense of capital murder of several victims.
He is charged with the murders of his ex-girlfriend’s mother, Jessica Rodriguez, 39, and two of Rodriguez’s children, a 13-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy. The teen’s ex-girlfriend is still alive and has not been named either.
The shooting occurred at approximately 5:45 p.m. on December 9, the day before. Three dead bodies were discovered inside an apartment after police responded to several calls.
Police Chief Mike Gerke stated at a press conference that although the suspect had already fled the scene on foot, he was apprehended approximately forty minutes later.
Investigation revealed that the 15-year-old male suspect had planned on shooting his 15-year-old ex-girlfriend outside of school but changed his mind and went to her residence instead,” authorities said in a press release, adding that “the suspect entered the residence and shot his ex-girlfriend’s mother.”
He then shot the ex-girlfriend’s siblings, said police.
According to Gerke, authorities believe this was an isolated incident, adding there’s no evidence the teen had any gang affiliations.
“This is a targeted thing, this was not random. Not an active shooter event and we knew who the actor was almost immediately,” he told press. “Unfortunately, and we’ve seen that here in Odessa before, evil does visit us from time to time and I think that’s what happened yesterday. Evil visited us one more time.”
Of the ex-girlfriend, he added, “She is okay … she wasn’t injured … after all this happened, I’m sure she’s not okay … but physically, she was unharmed.” He also wouldn’t say whether she was home at the time of the shooting.
The father of the two young victims — who is also the ex-husband of Rodriguez — posted about their deaths in a GoFundMe.
“Today, a young boy took the lives of my 9-year-old son, my 13-year-old daughter, and their mother, who was my ex-wife,” he wrote. “This is something that no one can really prepare themselves for because we don’t expect this kind of tragedy to happen to any of us.”
In an update, he added, “My heart is extremely broken and I keep finding little pieces at a time wondering which piece goes where!! It will never be complete anymore but as long as, I keep picking up these small pieces maybe one day it’ll form some type of shape again!!”