A 23-year-old man was shot early Sunday during a disturbance on North Colorado Street in Midland, and the man police say pulled the trigger from inside a moving vehicle is still on the run. Officers responded to the 1100 block of North Colorado Street at about 1:31 a.m. Sunday, and the victim was left in stable condition after the shooting.
Witnesses identified 37-year-old Edward Jesus Ochoa as the suspect, according to police cited by the Midland Reporter-Telegram. Officers located Ochoa's vehicle at his residence, but as of the newspaper's report, he had not been located or arrested. Midland Police continue to investigate the shooting as an active case.
A Violent Night Across Midland
The North Colorado Street shooting was one of two separate shootings reported in Midland during the early morning hours Sunday. It came roughly 90 minutes after a midnight shooting outside the El Mexicano Bar on Garden City Highway, which left a 50-year-old victim dead and led to murder charges against a 63-year-old suspect in that case, according to NewsWest 9. The back-to-back incidents meant Midland officers were responding to two separate shooting calls within two hours that morning. The 1100 block of North Colorado Street sits in a central residential neighborhood about a mile north of downtown Midland and west of Texas State Highway 349, an area made up mostly of single-family homes.
Suspect's Criminal and Legal History
Ochoa has a documented history with local law enforcement. He was previously sentenced to 12 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as a repeat offender for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and assault on a public servant, stemming from a 2013 stabbing at Club Krystal in downtown Midland, as reported by the West Texas Wanderer. Local crime reporting outlets circulated Ochoa's 2013 booking photo since Midland police had not immediately released an updated image.
Court records also show a more recent brush with the justice system tied to police. In July 2024, an individual named Edward Jesus Ochoa filed a federal pro se prisoner civil rights lawsuit against the Midland Police Department and Midland Memorial Hospital in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, a case opened under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, according to court filings logged by Justia Dockets.
What Charges Could Ochoa Face
Under Texas Penal Code Section 22.02, discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle toward a person and causing serious bodily injury constitutes aggravated assault, a second-degree felony carrying 2 to 20 years in state prison and fines up to $10,000, per legal analysis from Varghese Summersett. That exposure could grow significantly if prosecutors pursue enhancements: under Section 22.02(b), aggravated assault can be elevated to a first-degree felony carrying 5 to 99 years or life in prison if aggravating statutory circumstances, such as domestic violence or public servant involvement, are proven. It remains unclear what charges, if any, will ultimately be filed against Ochoa once he is apprehended, and the exact motive behind the North Colorado Street disturbance has not been disclosed.
A Recent Uptick in Violent Assaults
The shooting arrives amid a mixed crime picture in Midland. Municipal data shows overall Part 1 crimes citywide fell from 3,049 reported incidents in 2023 to 2,732 in 2024, and down further to 2,725 in 2025, marking multi-year lows for total reported offenses, according to the City of Midland. But that broader decline masks a more troubling trend in violent assaults specifically: Midland Police Department data released in April showed reported Part 1 violent assaults rose from 64 to 89 cases during the first six months of the current fiscal year compared with the same period a year earlier.
Police have also been ramping up efforts against illegal firearms in the city. Five weeks before the North Colorado Street shooting, Midland Police executed a major search operation on July 1 tied to a burglary investigation on West Michigan Avenue, seizing 57 firearms, 30 ammunition cans and 469 grams of illegal drugs while arresting six suspects, NewsWest 9 reported.
How to Help Find Ochoa
Midland Police continue to ask for public assistance in locating Ochoa. The department coordinates fugitive leads through Midland Crime Stoppers, which offers anonymous cash rewards for information leading to an arrest, alongside its online Police to Citizen portal. Anyone with information on Ochoa's whereabouts is encouraged to come forward as the investigation remains active and ongoing.
