The Harris County Sheriff's Office is searching for 21-year-old Angel Gomez Montanez, who they say shot and killed Christopher Rodriguez Lara, 18, during a rent dispute.
Zuleyka Ortiz says Montanez had been living in her home with her family for three months, rent-free. But when they finally asked him to contribute, she told ABC13 he came back with a gun.
"Everybody was screaming, yelling," she recalled.
Gomez Montanez is charged with murder and has a warrant for his arrest. According to investigators, he shot Rodriguez Lara to death outside their apartment on Butte Creek Road near FM 1960 in north Harris County. Ortiz said they just wanted the suspect to pay his way.
"The only thing we told him is we needed the money for rent," Ortiz said.
Ortiz said the suspect is her children's older brother. She and her family took him in, and he had been living on the couch.
"I told him this can't be happening. We have bills to pay," she said.
Earlier this week, Gomez Montanez took his things and left, she said, and when he returned, he said he had the $250 for rent but insisted on giving it to Rodriguez Lara, who stepped outside and was shot.
"He was the happiness in this home," Ortiz said of the victim, her brother-in-law. "My children loved him."
Gomez Montanez fled the scene. He has no car and few friends, and so the family believes he may still be nearby.
"He had no right to take someone's life. He has to pay for what he did," Ortiz added.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Angel Gomez Montanez is urged to contact the HCSO Homicide Unit at 713-274-9100 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).
For more on this story, follow Jessica Willey on Facebook, X and Instagram.