Sheriff: Homicide victims father and son

Ines Cruz and Manuel Cruz

Cameron County Sheriff Eric Garza said two men found dead that appeared to have been killed execution style are a father and son.

Garza announced Thursday that the victims are Ines Cruz, 49, and Manuel Cruz, 24, both of Brownsville.

Authorities said both men had gunshot wounds to their heads and that their legs and hands were bound with rope. There was tape over their mouths and black T-shirts over their heads.

“They (T-shirts) were tied over their heads. It appears to be execution style. It appears to be organized criminal activity,” said Mary Esther Sorola, Cameron County justice of the peace Precinct 2, Place 3, who pronounced the men dead.

The sheriff’s department received a call at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday about two men sleeping on the side of the road, Sheriff Eric Garza said. When the deputies arrived at the scene — off of old Port Isabel Road — they found the victims.

Garza said authorities believe the men were killed at another location and that their bodies were dumped at the location.

Sorola said she was called out to the scene at about 3:05 p.m. Upon inspecting the victims, she said one appeared to have suffered two gunshot wounds to the head while the other had been shot once in the head.

“It did seem fresh. It didn’t appear that they had been there that long,” she said.


RELATED READING:

Two men believed to have been killed execution style