HPD arrests man accused of Love's Travel Stop parking lot killing allegedly caused by 1 punch swing

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Houston police put a 43-year-old man in handcuffs this week, nine months after they said he threw the punch that took a 59-year-old man's life last summer.

A Houston Police Department Crime Suppression Team took Maximiliano Gamez into custody on Tuesday on a count of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury.

According to HPD, its homicide division detectives believe Gamez got into it with Andres Marroquin on June 26, 2023, in the Love's Travel Stop on North McCarty Street in the city's Pleasantville Area.

Police initially said that Marroquin was in a vehicle that was backing out of a parking space that afternoon when Gamez, in a blue truck, pulled behind and blocked the victim in.

Marroquin exited his vehicle and exchanged words with Gamez, who allegedly punched him in the head and drove off, police said.

Marroquin fell to the ground and suffered head trauma so severe that he spent four months at Ben Taub Hospital before he was pronounced dead on Nov. 1, 2023, according to HPD.

An HPD news release sent Wednesday didn't elaborate on how detectives identified Gamez as their suspect.

Court paperwork revealed Gamez had prior convictions, including an August 1996 aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon count and a felon in possession of a weapon charge almost 12 years later.

Gamez was due in court on Thursday.