By Ildefonso Ortiz The Monitor

 

EDINBURG — A man tied to a fatal home invasion near McAllen that left one attacker dead and another in an intensive care unit was formally charged on Friday.

David Orlando “Shaggy” Barajas Cortez, 23, on Friday went before Justice of the Peace Homer Jasso, who formally charged him with one count of aggravated robbery and set his bond at $300,000.

Barajas is accused of being part of a group that raided two homes on Whalen Road just south of McAllen on Jan. 28. During that robbery, a group of about seven masked gunmen stormed one house, tied the people inside and ransacked the home looking for money, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said.

After not finding anything of value inside, the gunmen stormed an adjacent home, threatening people inside with guns, Treviño said.

When one of the gunmen went up the stairs to the second floor, he encountered a man who had been taking a shower, the homeowner said in a recording of her frantic 9-1-1 call released by Treviño.

The resident wrestled a 12-gauge shotgun away from 19-year-old Fernando Dominguez and shot him in the lower body, sending him tumbling down the stairs, the sheriff said.

When a second gunman went up the stairs, the house resident shot him in the neck, Treviño has said.

The second suspect was identified as 19-year-old Rodolfo Garcia, who was dropped off at a local hospital and moved to a San Antonio area hospital for treatment. He remained hospitalized in intensive care on Friday under guard and is expected to have a second surgery, Treviño said.

“We have served him with an arrest warrant,” he said, adding that some of his investigators have traveled to San Antonio, where Garcia is expected to be arraigned on aggravated robbery charges this weekend.

After the shooting, investigators identified Barajas as one of the suspects in the case and arrested him Thursday afternoon.

Barajas told investigators that he had been part of the home invasions and he had driven Garcia to McAllen Medical Center, authorities reported.