Oziel Alejandro Munoz (Courtesy photo: Brownsville PD)
A family barbecue ended in a tragedy when one of the family members shot another family member in the head while the two were playing with the handgun, Brownsville police said.
Oziel Alejandro Munoz, 19, is charged with one count of manslaughter and one count of abandoning and/or endangering a child.
The incident happened Wednesday night while Munoz, his brother-law, Ruben Garcia, 27, and others were at a barbecue, said Investigator Martin Sandoval, spokesman for the Brownsville Police Department.
The men had been drinking when they decided to play around with a loaded black semi-automatic handgun that belonged to Munoz, which he purchased legally, Sandoval said.
“They decided that they wanted to play around with the gun and in one of those instances that they were just joking around the gun went off and struck the victim in the head,” Sandoval said.
A child was also next to the men at the time the gun went off but was not injured, Sandoval said.
The family called police and Garcia was transported to Valley Baptist Medical Center in Brownsville where he later died from his injuries.
Munoz was initially charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. However, when Garcia died from his injuries the charge was upgraded to manslaughter, Sandoval said.
Munoz was arraigned Friday on the charges and his bonds totaled $100,000. He is expected to be transported to the Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center in Olmito.
