San Antonio Express-News

Man, 23, charged with capital murder

- By Jacob Beltran STAFF WRITER

A man accused in the killing of another man whose Northeast Side apartment had a safe containing money and narcotics has been charged with capital murder.

Carlos Romero Jr., 23, was arrested Thursday in the death of Kelvron Dwight Hardrict, 27, according to court records. Romero's bail is set at $500,000.

On Aug. 16, Hardrict died after he was found by a witness with a gunshot wound to his chest at 11:30 p.m. outside the Villa Rodriguez apartment homes in the 3400 block of Salado Creek, San Antonio police said.

Detectives found the front door to Hardrict's apartment had been forced open, and that a safe installed in a one-bedroom closet had been opened to the point where detectives could see narcotics inside, according to Romero's arrest warrant affidavit.

Investigat­ors found a fingerprin­t matching Romero's right middle finger on the safe, which also contained a large sum of money, the affidavit said.

Before the shooting, security camera footage viewed by investigat­ors showed several people approachin­g Hardrict's apartment from a silver car that was backed into a handicap space.

Detectives said based on the way the car was parked, they believe the group knew the safe was inside the apartment and they were planning to load it into the vehicle.

Some time later, Hardrict himself arrived, police said.

The individual­s could be seen leaving moments after Hardrict was shot, investigat­ors noted.

A tip led investigat­ors to security camera footage that showed the individual­s had been casing the apartment about three hours before the incident occurred.

A detective investigat­ing an unrelated case, which was not listed in the affidavit, recognized Romero from the security camera footage, the affidavit states.

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