Joe Becerra was 33 when he was shot and killed on September 5, 2021, following a confrontation at Micheladas El Guero, a bar on Airline Drive in north Harris County, Houston. An altercation with two other people escalated to gunfire when one person produced a pistol and shot Becerra multiple times; he was pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Authorities identified a suspect as Manuel Reyes, who witnesses inside the bar named as the shooter and who fled the scene in a black Hummer. Reyes was arrested the same evening, charged with murder, and held on $150,000 bond while awaiting trial. Nearly a year and a half later, those murder charges were dismissed by the court for insufficient evidence, and no one else has been charged in connection with Becerra’s death.

The dismissal leaves key questions about what happened that night unanswered and Becerra’s family seeking closure.