A Hidalgo County grand jury on Tuesday indicted six of the seven suspects on a charge of murder for what police call a planned shooting outside a McAllen bar last year that left a 22-year-old Donna man dead.
Joel Gonzalez Jr., 19, Alejandro Gomez, 19, Naila Reyes, 28, and Humberto Ojeda Jr., 22, all from Donna; and Bryan Vasquez, 24, and Avan Ruben Mendoza, 17, both of Alamo, are charged with murder.
Police charged Viviana Gomez, 22, of Donna, with murder, but a search of court records didn’t show an indictment charging her with murder.
The suspects are accused of shooting Ryan Michael Serna on Oct. 2 near the No Manches Wuey bar where the group had an altercation.
Serna died on Oct. 6 at a local hospital.
A news release stated that the shooting occurred in the 1600 block of Beaumont Street early Sunday morning before 2 a.m., but the initial altercation took place at the bar located at 211 S. 17th Street.
A woman called to report that her boyfriend had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body, according to the release. He was rushed to a local hospital for emergency medical attention where he remained on life support until he died days later.
Police later said in a probable cause affidavit that their investigation revealed that Alejandro Gomez, Gonzalez and Mendoza had left their party to get a firearm while the rest waited at the bar to keep an eye on Serna.
“Mr. Gomez, Mr. Gonzalez and Mr. Mendoza returned and waited for Mr. Serna to leave the bar and then followed him to the area where the shooting occurred,” the affidavit stated. “After reviewing surveillance video from the area it is clear that Mr. Gomez along with other individuals planned to commit an act of violence against Mr. Serna.”
Mendoza is scheduled to be arraigned next week while Alejandro Gomez’s arraignment has been set for February. Vasquez is scheduled to be arraigned later this month.
Arraignment dates have yet to be set for the remaining suspects, according to court records.
Alejandro Gomez, Mendoza, Gonzalez, Reyes, Ojeda and Viviana Gomez remain jailed at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on $500,000, $210,000, $752,500, $421,000, $225,000 and $350,000 in bonds, respectively.
Vasquez bailed out of jail on $30,000 in bonds on Oct. 15.
