4 charged in man’s killing at eastside motel
Officials have charged four people with capital murder after a man was found “riddled with bullets” last month in a room at an east Houston motel, court documents show.
The most recent arrest in the Aug. 10 shooting happened this week, when police took 32-year-old Israel Ventura into custody. Erica Pererira, John Gallegos and Elizabeth Luna all were arrested Aug. 17, police said.
Investigators went to Motel 6 at 10155 East Freeway in the Northshore area after a manager alerted officers, who were at the motel for something unrelated, that a housekeeper reported finding a dead man. When they arrived, they saw the victim — Wilfredo Javier Rodriguez-Almendarez — dead in his underwear, court records say. He was shot eight times.
Surveillance video from the motel showed three of the accused attackers — Pererira, Gallegos and Ventura — were in the victim’s room for around 20 seconds, then ran to an SUV Luna was driving, according to the documents.
Officials suspect the group killed Rodriguez-Almendarez while trying to rob him. He had spoken with women in the hotel and may have been trying to solicit sex, according to court documents. At least two women were seen on video going in and out of his room, documents say.
Before the shooting, a woman bent down like she was picking something up, but officials believe she was leaving Rodriguez-Almendarez’s key for other people, the documents said.
Video showed Pererira with a white card before going into the victim’s room, documents said.
Two men then approached the victim’s room, and one of them got down “to presumably pick up the key” before entering, according to the documents.
They weren’t in there long before they ran, according to the documents.
Officials were tipped off about Ventura’s whereabouts and a description of his clothing Wednesday, and officers later found him, according to police. He tried to flee on a bike, police said. A court document noted that Houston Police’s gang tracker had pictures of his tattoos, which were consistent with the ones seen on one of the people in the surveillance video.