Two suspects, 28-year-old Jimy Caceres Leiva and 23-year-old Brian Pineda Ayala, were arrested on Tuesday near Houston for the murder of three people in West Dallas earlier this month.
The suspects will be transported from the Houston area to the Dallas County Jail, according to an update from the Dallas Police Department. Texas DPS troopers assisted in the arrest of the suspects.
Early in the morning of Sunday, October 5, DPD responded to a shooting off Bernal Drive, where they found three people dead, including father and son, 47-year-old Pedra Lara Roa and 21-year-old Pedro Lara. A third victim, not yet identified, was found inside a white van that had crashed into the Lara family’s front fence.
The suspects were booked into the Montgomery County Jail, just north of Houston, on October 14, and both have been charged with capital murder of multiple people. The two men had been on the run since October 5.
Josue Lara, who was home at the time of the murders, believes his younger brother and father woke up to check on the driver after hearing a loud crash.
“I don’t know them. I didn’t recognize the guy in the van. I know my dad and brother didn’t know them. They were just trying to help,” Josue said, per Fox 4 KDFW.
The Lara family is still wondering what happened before the crash and why the suspects opened fire. Police have not released details about the motive or the events leading up to the shooting.
Josue expressed his gratitude that the suspects were caught and his pain and grief over losing his father and brother outside the family’s home.
“This house has been with my dad since 2004. He raised it up and fixed it up. To be taken away from our lives outside his own home, it hurts. It will always hurt,” Josue said, per Fox 4.
Jail records show Caceres Leiva has a Fort Worth address, and Pineda Ayala has an ICE hold. Once they are booked at the Dallas County Jail, more details surrounding the triple-murder case may emerge through the release of an arrest affidavit.