EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A teenager is behind bars, charged with shooting and killing two other teens at a chaotic house party in far East El Paso in September.
Angel Avila, aka “Chino,” 18, is charged with capital murder of multiple persons in connection to the shooting death of Julia Worthington, 14, and Eliel Omar Bultron Hernandez, 19, on Sept. 17, along the 12300 block of Tierra Inca.
According to court documents, Avila and another teen, David “GG” Caldera, 18, had been feuding. Avila believed Caldera shot at him at a park in Socorro on Sept. 6.
On Sept. 17, Avila and friends arrived at the house party on Tierra Inca, which police say was a homecoming afterparty hosted at a short-term rental property. He spotted Caldera inside and allegedly told his friend there was “going to be a shooting because of it.” The friend later told investigators he knew Avila was armed with a gun, and they went to the car to grab a hoodie before walking back toward the house, where Caldera was exiting.
Avila allegedly opened fire on Caldera, and Caldera returned fire. Amid the gunfire, Worthington, Bultron Hernandez, 19-year-old Steven Stophel, who was working security at the party, and a 16-year-old boy were injured. Avila and Caldera were also wounded.
Avila’s friend drove him to the hospital for treatment of his gunshot wound.
During the investigation, Avila’s friend spoke with investigators and led them to a spot in the desert off Gateway East near Eastlake where a gun was buried inside a plastic bag. Detectives say the weapon had no identifiable serial numbers and is known as a “ghost gun.”
According to court affidavits, ballistics testing confirmed the projectiles that killed Worthington and Bultron Hernandez, as well as the projectiles that injured Caldera and the other two injured teens, came from the gun that was recovered from the desert.
Avila was arrested with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Task Force on Thursday and is being held on a $2 million bond.
