EDINBURG — Three survivors of what prosecutors called a “mass shooting” at a Palmview H-E-B in 2016 testified Wednesday, recalling their confusion during an early morning lunch in a breakroom that abruptly ended in a hail of gunfire.
Rafael Martinez, then 37, Frailan Garza, then 51, and Billy Joe Martinez, then 33, took the witness stand in the case against 31-year-old Raul Lopez, who is charged with murder over the shooting death of 48-year-old Mario Pulido, as well as three counts of attempted murder, three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and a count of attempted capital murder of multiple persons.
Lopez has pleaded not guilty and is pursuing an insanity defense.
Prosecutors allege that Lopez fired at least 15 shots from a 9mm Desert Eagle handgun through a window at approximately 3:30 a.m. into the breakroom at the H-E-B at Goodwin Road and U.S. Expressway 83.
All three men testified that night was just another shift at work and that nothing seemed off with Lopez that night, aside from Garza, who said that the day prior to the shooting Lopez seemed like he was in a trance.
Garza, who has not worked since the shooting, said that Lopez usually sat with everyone for lunch and that when the shooting happened he was actually cleaning off a spot at a table for the man.
He initially didn’t understand what was happening when he heard loud popping noises while eating until he felt something hit his head, which is when he got to the floor and saw a bullet casing and saw Billy Joe Martinez gasping for air.
Garza testified that he ran out of the room with Rafael Martinez and suffered a gunshot graze to his head.
Billy Joe Martinez told the jury that he realized someone was shooting when he saw a water jug Rafael Martinez was holding explode.
He too had just sat down to eat lunch and didn’t initially realize that he had been shot in the chest and in the right knee. That fragment from the latter wound ricocheted into his thigh.
“I was just scared waiting for all the shots to stop,” he said.
Believing he might die, he tried to unlock his phone to call his wife but was unable to because of all the blood.
“I was scared. I didn’t know if I was going to survive or not,” he said.
To this day, he told the jury how he has limited mobility in his left arm because of nerve damage from being shot in the chest.
Rafael Martinez, who was in charge of the night stockers, said he realized they were being shot at when his cellphone flew out of his hand.
He regularly ate lunch with Pulido and was sitting next to him when the man was hit by nine bullets in the back. Pulido’s back was directly to the window Lopez fired through.
He realized he had been shot because his arm was bleeding and hurting a lot.
Rafael Martinez testified that he ran out looking for help.
All three men described Lopez as a quiet, private person who they had no qualms with.
Jurors also watched a nearly two-hour video where former Palmview police investigator Ezequiel Jurado interrogated Lopez.
During the interview, Lopez was withdrawn and repeatedly asks Jurado what he is accused of and saying he doesn’t understand why he is in custody.
Testimony has shown that Lopez called 9-1-1 on himself after the shooting, telling dispatch that he is the shooter.
The interrogation occurred at 4:49 a.m., less than two hours after the shooting.
He also asked Jurado whether he knew anything about the people conducting surveillance on him.
Lopez’s attorney, O. Rene Flores, said during opening arguments that his client believed that the government, H-E-B and aliens were watching him.
As the interrogation progressed, Lopez, who initially asked for an attorney, began asking Jurado about lethal injection and the consequences of his actions.
He also said he thought H-E-B was going to fire him and that his life was going to end.
“Don’t think I’m crazy, that you’re speaking to a crazy person,” Lopez said.
He also said he just wanted to “scare them.”
“I thought everyone was on the floor and I was shooting the wall,” he said.
At the tail end of the interrogation, Lopez asks for a pencil and draws a map to where he dumped the gun, which he said he had for his own protection in case he needed it.
Pulido’s wife, Patricia, also took the stand Wednesday, telling the jury how she dropped her husband off at work and then drove to the location after someone told her police were at the H-E-B where her husband worked.
Testimony is scheduled to continue Thursday morning.
Monitor staff writer Xavier Alvarez contributed to this report.
