Suspected marijuana dealer shot dead by 2 men at McDonald's parking lot
El Paso police block off McDonald's at 7900 N Mesa Street to gather evidence from deadly shooting scene that happened Thursday, October28, 2021. (Credit: KFOX14/CBS4)
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EL PASO, Texas (CBS4/KFOX14) — A police investigation into the death of a 22-year-old El Paso man who was shot dead in the Upper Valley, revealed it happened during a drug deal.
El Paso police have not identified the man killed, but they released the names of the suspects that fled the scene and were captured at the University of Texas at El Paso.
RECOMMENDED: 1 person dead, 2 others in custody following shooting at McDonald's parking lot
Tranquil Card, 24, of Las Cruces and Robron Lewis, 22, of El Paso were charged with capital murder.
Just before 10 p.m., police were called to the shooting at the McDonald's parking lot at 7900 N Mesa Street, just a block away from the Westside Regional Command Center.
Police said an off-duty police officer spotted one of the suspects fleeing from the scene.
That off-duty police officer spotted the suspect's vehicle at UTEP, police said.
Card and Lewis were found hiding in the stage area of one of the auditoriums at UTEP, police stated.
Both men were taken into custody.
The hours-long investigation revealed that the 22-year-old man had agreed to meet Card and Lewis to sell them marijuana.
One of the two men fired a handgun at the man multiple times, killing him, a police news release stated.
Investigators learned that the suspects stole the marijuana that man was selling.
Judge Penny Hamilton issued a $2 million bond on Lewis and no bond on Card.
Both are being booked into the El Paso County Jail.
This is the 25 murder for 2021 as compared to 22 at this time last year.
The University and neighboring Hospitals were asked to "shelter-in-place" and the community to avoid the area.
Some UTEP students expressed concern over not receiving a notification from the university fast enough.
UTEP President responded with this statement:
“There was a crime that happened off-campus last night that resulted in community police coming on-campus searching for the suspects. Our notification to the campus community to shelter in place was not fast enough. We are reviewing our response and lessons learned to fix problems.”
UTEP students were not alerted about the incident until a little after midnight.
KFOX14 asked El Paso Police what time they informed the university.
Police said that that the call for the shooting was received at 9:51 p.m.
Police said they alerted campus dispatch at 9:55 p.m. with a vehicle description and found the vehicle at 10:05 p.m.
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