The San Antonio Police Department has arrested 17-year-old Gideon Segundo in connection with the shooting death of 14-year-old Timothy Chavez. The incident, which took place on July 15 on the Southeast Side, unfolded when Chavez was allegedly attempting to sell a firearm, as KSAT reported.
According to the police's arrest affidavit, Chavez was found by family members with multiple gunshot wounds to his head and upper torso after a maroon sedan was seen pulling up to his home on South Mittman Street, in the late hours of the night. Segundo faces a capital murder charge for a person older than 10 but younger than 15 years of age. After the shooting, the missing AR-15 pistol that Chavez reportedly planned to sell was nowhere to be found, based on information from the family, the affidavit notes.
Further investigation by the police linked Segundo to the murder scene via surveillance video captured on the night of the incident. A Mitsubishi Galant, later seized for evidence and belonging to Segundo, was spotted just one block away. The affidavit reveals traces of human blood were discovered in the car. In a statement obtained by KENS 5, Chavez's mother, Samantha Servin, described the trust her son had in the perpetrator who was familiar to him, "It shows him coming out confident, comfortable. Whoever did this, he trusted them."
Segundo initially told officers that he was forced to lend his car and phone to someone else, but as authorities probed further, he reportedly ceased his cooperation. Despite initially shifting his story, police assert that evidence and inconsistencies in his accounts led them to conclude that Segundo was directly responsible for Chavez's death. This revelation comes after officers collected 21 spent rifle casings from the crime scene, and after analyzing communications between Segundo and Chavez, which were planned around the time of the murder, according to police documentation.
While no eyewitnesses were present during the shooting, neighborhood members spoke of hearing a car speeding off post the gunfire. A neighbor recounted the chilling aftermath in an interview with KENS 5, "And I could just hear, his sister screaming and it’s just… I could still hear that… it’s just traumatizing." SAPD has yet to release additional details regarding the ongoing investigation into the tragic event that took a young life on the cusp of his 15th birthday.
