A 20-year-old south Texas man has been arrested and charged with the murders of four members of a Laredo family, including a two-year-old child.
Police were called to a residence in the southern part of the city at about 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, the Laredo Police Department said. Upon arrival, officers saw “visible signs of a possible crime scene” and noted that the family that lived in the home was nowhere to be seen.
A search of the area located the bodies of three members of the family in a nearby lot; the fourth family member, a two-year-old child, was found dead nearly a mile away in a vacant lot after police determined Samuel Enrique Lopez was a person of interest and brought him in for questioning.
Lopez was charged with capital murder of multiple persons and capital murder of a person under the age of ten years of age. He’s being held without bond at Webb County Jail.
According to MyTexasDaily.com, Webb County jail records show that Lopez was previously arrested for assault in 2018 and indecency with a child by sexual contact in 2019. Court records show he was placed in a pre-trial diversion program last year for the assault charge and was scheduled for a compliance hearing on May 4. Court records do not show a disposition for the indecency charge.
Laredo Police have not provided any further information, including the names of the victims or a possible motive.
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[Featured image: Samuel Enrique Lopez/Webb County Jail]
