John Paul Alvarez was a 20-year-old from San Antonio described by family as talented, artistic and loving. The youngest of five, he attended John Jay High School and was remembered by relatives as energetic; his death came as a shock to the family.

In the early morning of November 19, 2019, police responded to Alvarez’s home on the 8000 block of Westshire Drive shortly after 3 a.m. Officers found him with a gunshot wound to the neck; he was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. A longtime friend who had been in the room, 21-year-old Arthur Hernandez Martinez Jr., gave multiple differing accounts to investigators before being arrested. Martinez initially said Alvarez had shot himself while playing with a gun, later said an unknown assailant fled, and told reporters, while being escorted by officers, that the shooting was an accident and that he had panicked.

Martinez was charged with manslaughter, held on $50,000 bond, and a Bexar County grand jury returned a felony manslaughter indictment in April 2020.