Traveling to Kansas on a tip, Haltom City, Texas, detectives arrested two suspects of a murder committed in a grocery store’s parking lot last week.
Eli Gaibeth Martinez Sanchez, 23, and Deja Shanta Burt Roberts, 24, are currently being held in Sumner County Jail in Wellington, Kansas, on charges related to a murder occurring over 300 miles away. They have each been issued a $100,000 bond.
According to a statement from the Haltom City Police Department, Sanchez and Roberts are accused of fatally shooting 30-year-old Eric Martiz Hill Jr. in the parking lot of the Haltom Plaza Shopping Center located at 3173 Denton Hwy. on Thursday. The victim was taken to a hospital but died of his wounds.
The suspects allegedly fled the scene in a silver Jeep and drove over 300 miles to Kansas.
Learning about Sanchez and Roberts’ whereabouts, HCPD deployed detectives to intercept the duo. HCPD applauded the two law enforcement agencies for their “collaborative effort” in locating the suspects and making the arrests on Sunday.
“Since Saturday, Haltom City PD has established strong communication and coordination with local Kansas authorities,” a statement from HCPD read.
HCPD is still working on the case, interviewing the suspects, and gathering evidence. It is unknown when Sanchez and Roberts might be extradited to Texas.
Haltom City, a suburb of Fort Worth, reportedly has a murder rate of 3.27 per 100,000 residents, according to CrimeGrade.org — not much lower than the murder rate of 3.88 per 100,000 the site attributes to Dallas.
Although the Dallas Police Department has managed to make some headway in decreasing the number of murders in the city recently, violent crime remains an issue, with black and Hispanic residents being disproportionately affected.
DPD currently operates with a force of around 3,000 officers; however, a City report recommended closer to 4,000 to adequately address residents’ public safety needs. While recruitment efforts are in full swing, DPD wields a budget of just $654 million this fiscal year. The Dallas City Council opted to allocate considerably less to police than the leaders of other high-crime jurisdictions, including Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.