A 21-year-old Peñitas man who was shot on Oct. 14 is accused of three vehicle burglaries that sheriff’s investigators allege happened that same day.
Emmanuel Veliz was hit by gunfire following an armed confrontation at a Stripes convenience store in Mission that left his brother, 22-year-old Leonardo Veliz, dead.
Sheriff’s investigators have charged 31-year-old Mission resident Ricardo Adrian Mata and 21-year-old Peñitas resident Jose Maria Victoria with murder and attempted murder for the shooting.
Detectives are also searching for 27-year-old Mission resident Obed Peña, who has warrants for murder and attempted murder in the shooting.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts should call the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office at (956) 383-8114 and those wishing to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (956) 668-8477.
Deputies arrested Emmanuel on the burglary charges on Dec. 8 on the charges related to Oct. 14 in addition to charges of failure to identify, burglary of a vehicle and burglary of a habitation.
The fourth burglary of a vehicle charge and the failure to identify accusation are alleged to have occurred on Dec. 8, but jail records don’t list a day for the burglary of a habitation charge.
All of the Oct. 14 burglary charges are alleged to have occurred in Peñitas.
The affidavits for his arrest allege he stole six passports and a Louis Vuitton wallet from one woman and that investigators had spotted Emmanuel that same day, but said he was not cooperative with the investigation.
The second charge says that a woman called deputies to say her vehicle had been broken into, but the affidavit doesn’t say whether anything was taken from the vehicle.
Both of those incidents happened in the 18000 block of La Nutria.
The third incident alleges that a man arrived to his home and noticed someone looking into his vehicles. After the man left, the caller noticed his wife’s small black purse with a value of $100 was missing.
Investigators allege Emmanuel is the suspect in all of these cases.
The affidavits don’t include a time, but deputies on Oct. 14 found Emmanuel and Leonardo at around 3:32 p.m. in the area of 6 Mile Line and Bentsen Palm Drive.
They had both been shot.
Affidavits tied to the murder case indicate that Emmanuel and Leonardo had been in an armed confrontation with Victoria and Peña at the Stripes on FM 492 and State Highway 107 where Victoria is accused of trying to assault Leonardo with a brown handgun.
The brothers had shared their location with the men to drop something off, but the affidavits are not clear on what was being dropped off.
Mata is accused of being involved in the shooting because his Chevrolet truck was seen driving away from the shooting, and because his ex-girlfriend signed an affidavit saying that he called her that day to tell her that he and another man were involved in a shooting, according to an affidavit.
Detectives also say they uncovered phone records between him and Peña that occurred on the day of the shooting.
The shooting did not happen at the Stripes, but rather during a chase between the parties that ended after a friend of the brothers shot back at Victoria and Peña. However, both brothers had already been shot and deputies reported that the back window of the Nissa Versa they were in had apparent bullet holes.
Records obtained by The Monitor indicate that Emmanuel, Leonardo and Victoria have all known each other and that Emmanuel was previously shot during an unrelated incident after his alleged kidnapping in May 2019.
Ricardo Serna, a 27-year-old Mission man, is charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in that case.
He is in federal custody and was recently sentenced to more than 18 years in federal prison on charges of taking hostages and participating in a violent crime involving drugs and a machine gun for kidnapping two other man.
His father, Rodrigo, was also facing the same charges but those were dismissed after the man died from heart disease over the summer.
Victoria is also linked to that case. Ricardo is accused of threatening him with a gun the same day Emmanuel was shot.
The Sernas have maintained that Emmanuel was trying to rob them, while investigators allege they owed Emmanuel money and he had gone to their house seeking to collect.
Victoria remains jailed on $2 million in bonds over the Oct. 14 shooting while Mata is jailed on $200,000 in bonds. Mata, however, has a parole warrant.
There are three other people charged in the case: 19-year-old Jonathan Mora, 21-year-old Peñitas resident Rolando Tovar Sanchez and 18-year-old Mission resident Angel Mata.
They are accused of tampering or fabricating physical evidence over allegations they disposed of the guns used in the shooting. The affidavit for Sanchez’s arrest indicates that he is the one who shot back at Victoria and Peña.
Mora bailed out on a $20,000 bond on Nov. 26 while Mora remains jailed on a $75,000 bond.
Online jail records previously indicated Sanchez was jailed on a $75,000 bond, but a search of those records on Saturday did not return any results.
The affidavits do not indicate whether the burglaries Emmanuel is accused of are in any way related to the shooting.
