Third person of interest taken into custody in connection to Alvin shooting

Image 1 of 3

Galveston County Sheriff's Office says a third person of interest has been taken into custody in connection to the shooting of a 65-year-old man in front of his Alvin area home on Tuesday.

GCSO says the person of interest tried to flee and ran into a vehicle and started driving to his home. The person of interest was taken into custody on Westwood Road near HWY 6. Deputies will interview the man about the shooting incident. Deputies have acquired a search warrant and are searching the property for evidence.

Two men were charged with aggravated robbery earlier this week in connection to the shooting incident.

Pauncho Esparza, 65, was shot to death in front of his home on FM 517 on Tuesday morning. The longtime landscaper and gardener lived next to Bradshaw's Nursery where he worked. 

Investigators with the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office say Esparza was working and received a call from his niece inside his home who told him that a pickup truck kept pulling into the driveway of the property and leaving.
  
A man driving by, who actually witnessed the shooting, was able to snap a picture of the four-door Ford F-150 King Ranch truck shortly after the shooting.

Detectives say it appears Esparza simply went to ask the two men in the truck if they needed help and as he approached them, one man was outside the truck walking on Esparza's property and another man was still inside the vehicle.
   
A witness says that’s when the man in the truck opened fire on Esparza, shooting him no less than eight times and then driving away at a high rate of speed while the second man ran away.