Pair face capital murder charges in suspected drug deal turned fatal
Two 17-year-olds have been charged with capital murder in the shooting death of an 18-yearold in Spring — an incident that, according to one witness, started as a drug deal and turned into a deadly robbery.
Diego Andrade was being robbed, according to the sheriff ’s office, when he was shot and killed inside a red Buick Tuesday afternoon in the 4400 block of Adonis Drive.
Harris County Sheriff ’s deputies have charged Roderick Gerome Alexander and Julian Xavier Velarde, both 17, with capital murder in the killing.
Andrade’s girlfriend is one of two teens who stayed at the scene to talk to authorities after the shooting.
She said Velarde had contacted her boyfriend on Instagram wanting to buy marijuana, and that she and Andrade drove her Buick to meet up with Velarde and Alexander.
Velarde and Alexander got into the car, she said, and after a trip to a nearby convenience store for cigarillos, the group of five ended up back in front of the house where they’d met.
At that point, she said, Velarde produced a handgun and announced he was robbing Andrade. The two fought over the gun, the girlfriend said, and Andrade was shot one time in the head.
Velarde confessed to the shooting, but he told investigators that he shot Andrade only after Andrade’s girlfriend used a Taser on him.
Immediately after the shot was fired, Velarde and Alexander jumped out of the car and were caught on camera running away from the scene. When the Harris County Sheriff’s Office released footage of the two on Wednesday, Spring High School administrators recognized them and contacted authorities.
Both Alexander and Velarde, who live in Spring, were in Harris County Jail Thursday; no bail has been set.