A 31-year-old man has been charged with murder in connection with the July 2025 shooting death of Jay Young Jung outside a bar in west Harris County, more than a year after the killing left investigators searching for suspects. Ashton R. Mayo, who also goes by “Astro,” was arrested Saturday around 2 p.m. and charged with felony murder in the case, according to court records.
The shooting happened just before 10:45 p.m. on July 15, 2025, when Harris County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a call outside a bar in the 5400 block of State Highway 6 North. As reported by ABC13 Houston, deputies arrived to find Jung unresponsive inside a vehicle, suffering from several gunshot wounds; he was pronounced dead at the scene. The bar has since been identified by FOX 26 Houston as My Bar, located in a strip center at 5406 State Highway 6 North near Timber Creek Place Lane. Jung was 35 years old.
Investigators say Jung had come to the bar looking for multiple individuals, and according to investigators, he confronted the people he was searching for once he arrived. A witness identified as S. Miller told the station that Jung had left and come back before confronting the individuals he was looking for. A verbal altercation followed, and then gunshots rang out — Jung was hit by gunfire while driving away in a vehicle.
Surveillance Video Led to Break in the Case
The case sat unsolved for five months before detectives released surveillance video showing a suspect vehicle stopping behind the strip center, where two men got out and tossed a rifle into a dumpster before running east on Timber Creek Place Lane, the station's report notes. That footage was circulated by Crime Stoppers of Houston to help identify the men involved. Early in the investigation, per the same account, detectives had described searching for at least two suspects, initially characterized as Hispanic males, while witnesses reported seeing individuals flee behind the commercial strip.
Crime Stoppers of Houston had offered up to $5,000 for anonymous tips leading to the identification and charging of suspects in Jung's killing. It remains unclear whether Mayo's arrest resolves the search for the second man seen in the surveillance footage, and whether additional arrests or charges could follow.
What Felony Murder Means for Mayo's Case
Mayo's felony murder charge stems from Texas Penal Code § 19.02(b)(3), which applies when a defendant commits an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes death while committing or attempting another felony — without prosecutors needing to prove intent to kill, according to Texas statute. Under Texas law, co-participants in an underlying felony can be held legally responsible for a resulting death, as explained by Texas DWI Site.
Murder, including felony murder, is a first-degree felony in Texas that can carry a sentence ranging from 5 to 99 years or life in prison, along with a fine of up to $10,000, according to statutory guidance cited by Saputo Toufexis. Separately, Texas Penal Code § 19.02(d) allows a defendant at the punishment phase of a murder trial to argue the killing occurred under the immediate influence of “sudden passion arising from an adequate cause,” which would reduce the charge to a second-degree felony carrying 2 to 20 years — though the defense bears the burden of proving that by a preponderance of the evidence, per Doug Murphy Law. It is not yet known whether any such argument will factor into Mayo's defense.
Part of a Broader Regional Crime Picture
The case comes amid a broader decline in violent crime across the Houston region. Homicides investigated in the city of Houston dropped 17% in 2025, falling to 272 cases from 331 the year before, according to the Houston Chronicle, mirroring wider regional and national trends. Local prosecutors have attributed the drop to improved case clearance rates and targeted law enforcement efforts, the paper reported.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office, which investigated Jung's killing, is the largest sheriff's department in Texas and the third-largest in the nation, covering unincorporated areas spanning more than 1,700 square miles, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Mayo is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court, and it remains unresolved whether other individuals connected to the shooting will face charges.
