A local teenager will be facing trial as an adult in the December 2022 shooting death of an Odessa man.
Jacob Aragon Garcia was booked into the Ector County jail March 6 after being certified as an adult by Judge Justin Low.
According to an Odessa Police Department report, officers went to check on Maurice Rogers, 36, on Dec. 28, 2022 because he hadn’t shown up to work. When they arrived, they found spent cartridge cases in the street and bullet defects to the front of Rogers’ home in the 1000 block of East 36th Street. Inside, they found Rogers dead.
Surveillance video from a neighbor’s house showed two people approach the house at 10:15 p.m. Dec. 27 and fire multiple shots in the direction of Rogers’ home, the report stated.
People came forward and told detectives Rogers’ sons had attempted to rob Harvey Gutierrez, 31, several hours before the shooting. One witness said Gutierrez told them if he didn’t find Rogers’ sons, he’d go after Rogers, the report stated.
Other witnesses told detectives Ashton Isiah Munoz, 18, and a 16-year-old boy helped Gutierrez carry out retribution against Rogers’ sons, according to the report.
Gutierrez waived his Miranda rights and confessed he, Munoz and the 16-year-old had discussed shooting up one of Rogers’ son’s cars to pay them back for the attempted robbery, the report stated. He was arrested on suspicion of murder and released from the Ector County jail after posting a $100,000 surety bond, but his bail was revoked last month after authorities said he was caught with drugs. He was re-arrested and is now being held without bond.
Munoz and the younger teen, who has now been identified as Garcia, were arrested in El Paso.
Garcia was booked into the juvenile detention center and Munoz was booked into the Ector County jail.
Munoz also posted bond only to have it revoked in January. He, too, is now being held without bond in the Ector County jail.
Garcia’s bond has been set at $250,000.
