A Texas man shot his neighbor up to 30 times in an merciless execution-style killing so horrific a judge to set unusually high bail at $2 million to keep the accused shooter behind bars, according to reports.
Prosecutors allege Trevor McEuen planned the May 1 slaying of his neighbor, Aaron Martinez, and went so far as to use an attachment on his gun that caught bullet casings, according to the Dallas Fox station.
Lawyers for the state detailed how McEuen shot Martinez several times in the back and then his forehead.
“We have to have a closed casket — that’s how bad it was,” Martinez’s widow, Priscilla told WFAA-TV.
“It was 15-30 times. That’s hate.”
There had bad blood between the two men leading up to the altercation, Martinez’s father told the local station.
“He committed cold-blooded murder,” Martinez Family Spokesman Carlos Quintanilla said.
There were “numerous” 911calls related to McEuen and Martinez, a search warrant revealed.
The murder suspect, 30, is also accused of stealing some of Martinez’s belongings after the killing, a police investigator testified during a bond hearing on Wednesday.
The hearing was an attempt by McEuen’s lawyers to get their client’s $2 million bond lowered so he could be released from the Kaufman County Jail, about 30 miles southeast of Dallas.
His release would have meant McEuen could have returned to his home just feet away from where Martinez grieving wife and two children live.
Martinez’s family members and supporters packed the courtroom Wednesday, some holding signs pleading for no bond.
“Me and my dad were so excited to dance at my quinceañera,” Martinez’s daughter, April, told WFAA-TV. “Now I can’t dance with him. And he took that away from me, he took my dad away from me, he took my dad away from my brother.”
The judge ultimately decided to leave the bond amout as initially set, which McEuen’s family could not afford to pay, according to testimony from the accused shooter’s father, who was also present.
After the murder, McEuen was arrested following a stand-off with the SWAT team. He is charged with murder, but those charges could be upgraded to capital murder. The more serious charge would make McEuen eligible for the death penalty in the Lone Star State.