Five arrested in slaying

Five people were arrested Friday in connection with the fatal Oct. 9 shooting of Ray Valdez on Hughes Lane.

Kevin Rance Jackson, 35, Billy Wayne Haynes, 32, Hannah Psalm Fierros, 26, Summer Wilkins, 27, and George Buford Scott, 36, were each charged with "engaging in organized criminal activity, to wit murder," a first-degree felony, Sgt. Gary Duesler of the Ector County Sheriff's Office said.

Sheriff Mark Donaldson said warrants also were issued for a 29-year-old woman and a 47-year-old man, but they were not yet apprehended Friday.

The charges, Donaldson explained, meant that their reported criminal activity led to Valdez's slaying. Investigators believe one of the seven suspects pulled the trigger but haven't figured out who, Donaldson said.

Of the five who were arrested, Jackson was not yet booked into the Ector County Detention Center by Friday afternoon, but the other four were. Fierros was being held on a $500,000 bond, while bonds were not yet set for Haynes, Wilkins and Scott.

Donaldson said investigators have determined there was a disturbance in Odessa the night of the shooting involving some of the suspects. They went to Valdez's home at 7306 Hughes Lane, north of Odessa, and one of the suspects shot him once in the upper arm with a small-caliber handgun, Donaldson said.

A preliminary autopsy report said the shot also went into Valdez's chest.

Valdez was taken from the yard to the Medical Center Hospital, but he died shortly after arrival.

Donaldson said some of the seven are affiliated with the Aryan Circle gang, a white supremacist group that was locally involved in a major methamphetamine operation before federal authorities raided them in 2004. Donaldson didn't indicate any motives for the shooting or the disturbance.

Attempts to reach Valdez's mother weren't successful Friday. A woman who answered her phone, who claimed to be Ray Valdez's sister, said the family was aware of the arrests but declined further comment.

Robert Hernandez, a man who described himself as a close friend of Valdez, said he was "ecstatic" to know that the arrests were made.

"That's great that they found somebody to be accountable for this tragedy," Hernandez said.

Hernandez previously told the Odessa American that a fight took place between Valdez and a man Hernandez described as Valdez's father-in-law. He said the woman that told him of the fight maintained that it took place, but investigators did not make any mention of such a disturbance.