The long arm of the law caught up once again with Giovanni Matt Ornelas, previously charged in a fatal shooting incident that claimed the life of a young man and injured another. The shooting, a grim episode from 2021 at 5612 Newport Street, has resurfaced in public awareness with Ornelas' re-arrest yesterday, as confirmed by authorities.
Ornelas, now 31, was initially apprehended without drama by HPD SWAT and Southwest Patrol Division Crime Suppression teams back in August 2021, according to the City of Houston. However, in a turn of events that authorities are still trying to fully piece together, he managed to not only remove his ankle monitor but also to successfully evade justice until recently.
Alongside Ornelas, Anastasia Marie Hernandez, his 34-year-old girlfriend, has been charged with hindering apprehension. Investigations led law enforcement to believe that she played a key role in aiding Ornelas' escape and was harboring him at the time of his latest arrest. Jose Leonel Cabrera, another suspect in the case, remains in custody on related murder and aggravated assault charges.
On the fateful evening of August 8, 2021, officers responded to reports of a drive-by shooting and discovered the younger Castillo lifeless from a gunshot wound with his father wounded nearby. In what can only be described as an ongoing pursuit to ensure justice, the U.S. Marshal's Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force was finally able to locate and detain Ornelas.
