In Texas, a 34-year-old man was found guilty of capital murder by his own fourteen-year-old son in the fatal shooting of three teenagers.
On Friday, a jury in Dallas convicted Richard Acosta in the 2021 shooting deaths of Xavier Gonzalez, 14, Ivan Noyala, 16, and Rafael Garcia, 17, which occurred the day after Christmas.
In addition, a fifteen-year-old newly hired cook was wounded in the shooting but has since recovered.
Acosta testified in court that he was unaware that his son, Abel Acosta, had a gun or had shot anyone; he only knew that his son had gotten into his vehicle and ordered his father to drive away, claiming someone was shooting.
Abel Acosta has been missing since the shooting and is considered armed and dangerous. Prosecutors argued that Richard Acosta attempted to conceal evidence and move his family away from Garland.
According to surveillance footage, Abel stepped out of his father’s pickup truck before entering the convenience store and repeatedly shot his gun at the individuals inside. The truck then departed the scene at a rapid rate of speed, as relayed in a press release from the GPD at the time of the murders.
Acosta himself testified that his son was gone by the night of the shooting. The Garland Police Department expressed in a statement on social media that they will continue to search for Abel Acosta until he is captured, saying that justice is only halfway achieved.
Furthermore, Acosta will spend life in prison without parole since prosecutors did not pursue the death penalty. Acosta was convicted under a Texas law that allows for accomplices to be charged even if they did not commit the actual crime.