Suspects Arrested

HARLINGEN — Police said that two men killed Saturday night were gunned down after an apparent feud between two cousins over a $1,000 loan.

Three young men, all from San Benito, now  face charges of capital murder and engaging in organized criminal activity, police said.

By Monday afternoon, the three had been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of Edgar Villanueva and Agustin Gonzalez Jr., both 23 of Mercedes, near the corner of B Street and W. Harrison Avenue Saturday night.

Police arrested Jose Luis Vega, 21, Sunday afternoon following a short standoff with police near the 200 block of Colorado Street in San Benito.

Harlingen police then rounded up two more suspects in the shooting, taking Vega’s brother, Baldemar Vega, 17, and cousin, Jerordo Olivarez, 18, into Harlingen police custody Monday.

HPD Gang Eradication Unit officers and the San Benito Police Department put the three
suspects under surveillance after linking them to the weekend double-murder, police said. Jail logs show that San Benito police arrested Baldemar Vega and Olivarez on unrelated prohibited weapons charges on Sunday.

According to investigators with HPD’s gang unit, an ongoing feud between cousins Jose Luis Vega and Edgar Villanueva sparked Saturday night’s brutal shooting.

“It looks like Edgar was having issues with Jose Luis over money and that Jose Luis owed him some sum of money,” Harlingen Police Sgt. Stephen Mayer, head of the department’s gang unit, said. According to Jose Luis Vega’s arrest warrant, Villanueva’s wife told detectives that he had loaned the cousin roughly $1,000 over a period of time.

Threats back and forth between the two cousins eventually led to Saturday’s shooting, Mayer said.

That night, detectives said, Vega’s brother called him after he saw the two victims cruising downtown Harlingen in their white Ford Mustang convertible. “While they were out cruising, we believe that Jose Luis’ brother saw them out and called it in,” Mayer said.


At this point in their investigation, police said Vega, driving a Ford SUV, found the Mustang, ran it off the road and began shooting at the two victims with a high-powered rifle, Mayer said, adding that Jose Luis Vega appears to have been the shooter.

After running the vehicle off the road, police said they believe Jose Luis Vega stepped from his car and approached the two victims who had stumbled out of the Mustang and onto the pavement. Once outside the car, he continued to fire at the victims at close range, Mayer said.

“We have some reason to believe Jose Luis even stood over Edgar and fired several rounds into him,” Mayer said.

Both victims died from multiple gunshot wounds, police said.

Although police are still investigating the possible gang affiliations of everyone involved, there’s no indication the shooting was gang related, Mayer said.

“This wasn’t linked to any gang activity,” Mayer said Monday. “This appears to be a dispute over finances that got out of hand.”

Jose Luis Vega went before a judge Monday morning on two counts of capital murder and one count of engaging in organized crime. His bail was set at $2.1 million.

The other two suspects are expected to appear before a judge sometime today.