John Paul Alvarez

John Paul Alvarez was a talented, artistic, and loving young man, his family said. The youngest of five children, the 20-year-old Hispanic man had attended John Jay High School in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. His older sister described him as a very energetic person, and his death was something his family never would have expected.

In the early morning hours of November 19, 2019, police were called to Alvarez’s home on the 8000 block of Westshire Drive. A little after 3 a.m., they found him inside suffering from a gunshot wound to his neck. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. At the time of the shooting, Alvarez had been in a room with his longtime friend, 21-year-old Arthur Hernandez Martinez Jr.

During questioning, Martinez gave investigators several different accounts of what had happened. He first claimed that Alvarez had shot himself while playing with a gun. He then changed his story, saying an unidentified gunman had shot his friend and fled the scene. Another witness inside the house told detectives he had been asleep and did not see the shooting. Based on the evidence and circumstances, police arrested Martinez.

While being escorted by officers, an apologetic Martinez told reporters that the shooting was an accident. He said he and Alvarez, who he called his brother, had been friends for 17 years and were playing with a gun he did not know was loaded. "I never meant to hurt John," he said. "I didn't run. I just panicked." Martinez was charged with manslaughter and booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on a $50,000 bond.

In April 2020, a Bexar County grand jury formally indicted Arthur Hernandez Martinez Jr. on a felony charge of manslaughter in connection with John Paul Alvarez's death. As of that month, Martinez was in jail awaiting trial.