HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Authorities say a teenage suspect, driven by jealousy, partnered with a friend to execute a man he believed was involved with his girlfriend. However, the victim’s family insists he was innocent.
Christopher Portillo Luna was arrested on Thursday. He smiled for the camera in his jail booking photo and in the signature line on his bond conditions, it reads “refused.”
The 17-year-old now joins Fernando Amaya, also 17, behind bars. Both teens are accused of murdering 41-year-old Marcos Cotto Torres. Court records suggest the attack stemmed from a love triangle involving Amaya and his teenage girlfriend.
The shooting happened around 1 a.m. on March 18 at the Alief Square apartments on Cook Road. Torres was found dead outside his residence, where chunks of the wall are missing and plywood covers the shattered windows. According to court records, Amaya and Luna used an AK-style rifle, firing 84 rounds at Apartment 227. The gunfire also injured Torres’ roommate.
After the attack, the teens fled the scene in a white SUV, Houston police said. Amaya was arrested later that day.
Prosecutors, in their motion for a high bond, revealed a motive, that Amaya “threatened to kill himself and his juvenile girlfriend for cheating on him with the male who he later murdered,” the motion reads.
ABC13 spoke with Torres’ sister, who was unaware of any romantic involvement. She maintained that her brother led a quiet life with no social connections, insisting on his innocence. She said she and her family are “completely devastated.”
On Friday evening, flowers and candles marked the scene of the crime. Neighbors, however, claimed to not know anything about the shooting or hear the hail of bullets.
Both Luna and Amaya have been charged with murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for the roommate’s injuries.
Additionally, Amaya has been charged with aggravated assault for allegedly holding his girlfriend, who he accused of cheating, at gunpoint. He is being held on bonds totaling $1,150,000.
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