The Pharr Police Department announced Friday it apprehended two people sought in connection to a deadly June 18 home invasion in which a man shot and killed an intruder who was trying to steal drugs.
The U.S. Marshal Service arrested 24-year-old Derek Medina in Hernando, Mississippi, which is just south of Memphis, Tennessee, on a warrant for engaging in organized criminal activity last month. Police previously described him as a suspect in the case.
Pharr police traveled to the location and took custody of Medina, returning him to the Valley Thursday for his arraignment.
Authorities also arrested 24-year-old Sixto Gonzalez on June 24 at the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge on a federal probation violation and he is in the U.S. Marshal Service’s custody at the La Villa Detention Center, police said.
Gonzalez was on probation after being convicted of attempting to smuggle someone into the country illegally in the trunk of a vehicle through the Sarita checkpoint in 2019 and is accused of violating his supervised release after being arrested October 2020 on charges of failure to identify, resisting arrest search or transport and evading arrest or detention, court records show.
Pharr police are still looking for one person of interest in the case, 25-year-old Leslie Denise Medina.
So far, investigators have only charged 28-year-old Pharr resident Erick Daniel Garza with murder.
He’s accused of shooting and killing 26-year-old Jose Eduardo Morales, who investigators say broke into Garza’s home in the 700 block of Frida Street to steal narcotics with one other suspect on June 18.
A probable cause affidavit for Garza’s arrest said he heard a loud bang and went out of his bedroom with a handgun and encountered Morales, who was wearing a mask and armed with a shotgun.
Investigators said a shootout ensued. Garza retreated to his bedroom , returned with an assault rifle and the shooting continued..
The charging document said Garza shot Morales as the man ran toward a glass door before getting close to him and intentionally shooting him several times.
Police say authorities found blood spatter around the assault rifle’s barrel.
Garza, the homeowner, also sustained gunshot wounds to his legs, police said.
He initially received a total of $1,100,000 in bonds on charges of murder and possession of marijuana, but 275th state District Judge Marla Cuellar reduced those bonds to $210,000 Tuesday, court records show.
In a Facebook post, Pharr Police Chief Andy Harvey thanked the department’s detectives, the community and federal partners for helping locate Gonzalez and Medina.
“I want to thank our detectives who worked tirelessly working with our federal partners in locating and arresting these violent offenders. Our community helped us with information that helped us. Together, we make our city safer,” Harvey said.
