Jose Manuel Betancourt, a 35-year-old Hispanic man, was killed in Tyler, Texas, in a shooting that also claimed the life of his brother, Justino Rosales-Betancourt, 32. A third man, Saul Morado, 20, was wounded but survived.
The deadly encounter began with an argument on the evening of June 28, 2020. Jose, Justino, and Saul were at a restaurant on East Erwin Street when two men confronted Justino, insisting he owed them money. Justino denied knowing them, and the argument grew heated enough that the restaurant manager told the two men to leave. They left, but one of them, described as "skinny," returned shortly after with a handgun and yelled for Justino to come outside. The manager again intervened, and after about five minutes, the man left for good.
Following the confrontation, Saul Morado told his friends he recognized one of the men as someone named "Ramiro" from a concrete job and knew where he lived.
The group of four, including an unnamed witness, left the restaurant and drove to a home on Dobbs Terrace. There, Justino went inside and came back out with firearms, telling the others they were going to "go find these guys." They then drove to the residence of Ramiro Ortiz.
Shortly after 12:30 a.m. on Monday, June 29, the Smith County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call about shots fired in the 5300 block of Highway 110 North. Deputies arrived to find Jose and Justino Betancourt deceased from gunshot wounds. According to an affidavit, Ramiro Ortiz’s wife told investigators she heard a knock on the door around 11 p.m., which her husband answered. She then heard gunshots. Ortiz came back inside, bleeding from a graze wound on his face, and asked her, “Would you rather them shoot me first?” He told her to take their children and go to her brother’s home. As she went outside, she saw two deceased men she did not recognize.
The investigation uncovered multiple crime scenes, including the Dobbs Terrace address where authorities found a red truck with its windows shot out and a significant amount of blood inside. On July 3, 2020, Ramiro Ortiz, 34, turned himself in to the Tyler Police Department. He was charged with first-degree murder and held on a $1.5 million bond. An immigration detainer was also placed on him.
Authorities also issued an arrest warrant for a second suspect, Rodrigo Rivera, who was identified as Ortiz's nephew. Rivera was wanted for deadly conduct, with the sheriff stating he was believed to have fired shots during the incident, though it was unclear if his shots struck anyone. As of July 2020, Ortiz was in custody awaiting trial.
