Probable Cause Affidavit Reveals Suspects Given ‘The Green Light’ to Shoot and Kill Zane Lopez

 

Yesterday, seven people were arrested for the shooting and murder of 17-year-old Juan Guerrero and 16-year-old Zane Lopez. Guerrero died at the scene in the 1100 block of 22nd St., and Lopez succumbed to his injuries Thursday night. Out of those individuals arrested, three were identified as Eric Ramos, 18, Fred Angel Garcia, 17, and Gilberto S. Reyes, 18. The other suspects arrested are juveniles (click here for that story).

Today, San Angelo LIVE! received more information into the details of the shooting from the Probable Cause Affidavit filed with the Justice of the Peace, Precinct Four. Based on the interviews with the suspects, Zane Lopez was the primary target of the shooting. Whether Guerrero was a part of that plan, or just at the wrong place at the wrong time, remains unclear.

The Affidavit noted that Officer Charles Barker was originally called out to the shots fired call on March 26. He located Guerrero and Lopez. Both victims had gunshot wounds to the head.

The Affidavit also stated that one of the juveniles (identified as Juvenile #1) arrested told Detectives that Reyes “had given the green light on Zane Lopez.” The “green light” means that permission had been given to kill the targeted subject.

In a mirandized audio/video recorded statement, Detectives Castro and Dye, with the San Angelo Police Department, interviewed Reyes. The 18-year-old advised Detective Dye “that he knew guns had been used in a homicide,” and he “had taken possession of the guns” and “concealed the guns from police.”

As for his role, Garcia told Detective Castro that he was a passenger in the suspect vehicle, and it was he who shot a black .40 caliber handgun toward the residence he knew “as Zane’s house.”

Additionally, Ramos, during his recorded statement, told the detectives he was aware of the plan to shoot at Zane Lopez’s residence.

“Ramos stated that he drove the vehicle into the alley behind the residence, stopped the vehicle, passengers got out of the vehicle; Ramos heard shots fired; passengers got back into the vehicle, and Ramos drove all passengers away from the scene,” read the Affidavit.

At this time, no information is available as to the roles of the other unnamed juveniles in this incident.

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Sigman, Mon, 04/04/2016 - 21:10

Citizens of San Angelo, TX, the time has come for all to realize that gang violence is out of control in this city! Yes, believe it or not, gangland activity is alive and growing in our city. Small or large, gang activity is becoming a problem and the time for our City Government to act on this is way over due! It's a shame that this issue was not addressed and brought to the forefront until lives were taken! City Council Members of San Angelo, TX, enough is enough! It is time to find funds necessary to allow our Police Department to address this growing problem now, before other lives are taken senselessly!

Masaru, Wed, 04/06/2016 - 12:32

"In any social class based society, those individuals living at the bottom are the ones who normally engage in violent and criminal acts. Sadly, minorities (in all social class societies) exist at the bottom. They are the “other” of society. In our case, these are the people who do not fit into the middle-class white patriarchal society of the U.S."

This is from Mrs. Ramirez editorial. While I understand that Mrs. Ramirez has very impressive credentials, I think her take on this unfortunate event is, frankly, absurd.

Did the imaginary "patriarchy," of feminist conspiracy theory fame, organize these young men into a pack of armed killers and lead them to execute another unfortunate young man with the unreflecting, unrestrained, ignorant, and feral glee of a dog tearing into new upholstery? (When I write "instinctive," accounts of savage Germanic tribesman sacrificing their Roman civilizers come to mind.) No doubt they thought, naively, that it would be as glamorous—as *glorious*—as anything portrayed on television. Did the culture of the United States inject an alien idea into their minds that transformed them into killers—could we expect that these young men would have instead been preparing for legal or medical schools had they lived in nearby Mexico or Honduras? Did "middle-class whites," ever wary of inviting politically correct backlash, write that comment about the boys "only [getting] 2 tortillas a day while everyone else got 6," or do those words not bear the marks of the white working class—that is, of those people who experienced poverty and criminality in their upbringing but resolved to overcome their circumstances despite their setbacks? Do you think that the Marxism they taught you at university is going to save us, or will it simply keep the minority underclass in its place as effectively as it has disintegrated the families and well-being of the white working class?

How can we, as a Hispanic community, not expect to collectively experience backlash from events like these when we fail to both support and admonish our own? These young men were sorely confused. No one guided them—and if anyone did, none of them listened. There has to be justice, and there have to be appropriate consequences for criminality. Otherwise, we destroy the peace and prosperity—and opportunity—that draws so many to this country from around the world.

Especially the part about no guidance. It is obviously easier to turn a blind eye to signs of trouble with your children but that is not a parent's job. Our job is to raise decent kids who are ready to go out into the world and contribute to society. Every time I see family members on TV after a violent crime saying "But they are good kids" I have to wonder if the parents were blind to their kids behavior or just didn't care. Children have to be taught right and wrong from an early age if we want them to know right and wrong when they are adults.

Masaru, Thu, 04/07/2016 - 17:38

JG I have close, wayward relatives raised by a "my baby can do no wrong!!" matriarch. Frankly, yes, there are plenty of people who are willfully blind to their children's misbehavior and who don't care about the negative impact that it has on those around them and the community at large. On the one hand, I want those near and dear to me, and any others in similar situations, to be able to find their own way in life and to prosper. On the other hand, that can't happen in a community where injustice is tolerated—either by denying opportunity due to prejudice or by not punishing irresponsible behavior.

People apologizing for guys like this, however misguided the young men were, are just as bad as the "lock up the slug/thugs and throw away the key" crowd, who seems to have something against those of us, like myself and these young men who are, you know, phenotypically thuggish. The thugpologists and the antithugists are two sides of the same coin in my view, and it's hard to denounce the profiling of the latter when the community faces the often homicidal antics of the former followed by what amounts to a Steve Erkle-esque "Did I do that?" from them when apprehended.

I just have to balk at the idea that the "middle-class white patriarchal society of the U.S." somehow drove these guys to this. If anything, it seems like they would have been better off with more exposure to mainstream middle-class values. Or even a "nice white lady" in their lives. (https://youtu.be/ZVF-nirSq5s) Or an irascible Philippine nun with a swift ruler. Something.

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