By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Two Cibolo teenagers facing attempted murder charges stemming from a shooting outside a local motel were recruited as smugglers on a popular social media platform, police said.
Kameron Jahmal Tapp, 19, and Javon Rene Tristan, 19, were arrested Sept. 15 as they attempted to flee the scene of a shooting outside the Del Rio Inn, 3811 Veterans Blvd. Two men who are citizens of Mexico were shot outside their room at the motel after Tapp and Tristan allegedly tried to force them into a car in what police have characterized as a failed smuggling attempt.
In an affidavit filed in the case, Del Rio Police Department Detective Joshua R. Garcia wrote that a female witness to the incident told him two young men, later identified as Tapp and Tristan, tried to have her and two companions, identified only as A.L., 29, and J.T., 25, get into their car “to be taken to a destined location in a human smuggling attempt.”
“(The woman) stated an argument ensued between J.T., A.L. and the two young males (Tapp and Tristan), in which she then ran into the restroom. (She) stated shortly after she heard several gunshots. (She) also stated after hearing the gunshots, a male subject entered the restroom where she was at and threatened to kill her while pointing a pistol at her. After some time, (she) stepped out of the restroom and observed J.T. and A.L. had been shot several times and were bleeding severely,” Garcia wrote.
Garcia wrote he was able to get a statement from another witness at the scene and recovered a magazine loaded with .22-caliber bullets, as well as a spent shell casing. A .22-caliber handgun was later found in the vehicle Tapp and Tristan were in.
Garcia in his affidavit said Tapp and Tristan were arrested after the vehicle they were in was stopped by Del Rio police officers as it was traveling east on U.S. Highway 90.
On Friday, Garcia spoke to the 830 Times about his investigation of the incident. He said Tapp and Tristan told him they were recruited on social media.
“That’s how these guys were contacted, via Instagram. According to them, that’s how they were contacted, and they just carried on from there,” Garcia said.
In his affidavit, Garcia wrote, “Tapp stated . . . he received a message from ‘a guy’ instructing him and Tristan to travel from their home in Cibolo, Texas, to Del Rio, Texas, to do ‘a job.’ Tapp stated he was instructed to travel to the Del Rio Inn and meet five undocumented aliens in (a room) and pick them up. Tapp stated they approached the room and spoke with A.L. at the door. Tapp stated A.L. became upset and began to beat him up while pulling him inside the room.
“Tristan, seeing this, went back to their car and grabbed the .22-caliber pistol and pointed it in the direction of A.L., J.T. and other individuals inside the room. Tapp stated he then observed A.L. and Tristan fighting for the gun. Tapp stated he heard around five gunshots. Tapp stated he and Tristan ran out of the room and entered (their car),” Garcia wrote.
“We also have a confession from Tristan that corroborates pretty much everything Tapp told us,” Garcia said.
In the incident, Garcia wrote, A.L. sustained “several gunshot wounds to the head, legs and abdominal area,” and J.T. sustained a gunshot wound to the chest.
A.L. and J.T. were taken to the emergency room and later transferred to a hospital in San Antonio. They have since been released from the hospital and “are doing fine,” a police spokesman told the 830 Times.
DRPD Lt. Hubert Smith, of the police department’s detective division, said the two men will be allowed to remain in the United States for at least a year while the criminal case against Tapp and Tristan makes its way into and through the criminal justice system.
“One of the men is in Houston, and the second man is en route to Colorado,” Smith said.
“HSI (Department of Homeland Security Investigations) gives them permission to stay in the United States up to a year, with the promise to appear and to cooperate with the investigation. If at any time they do not cooperate with the investigation, they will be subject to deportation,” Smith added.
Garcia said the two teens told him they were promised between $3,000 and $5,000 for the smuggling job.
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