During a court hearing in San Antonio, Texas, the family of a murdered teen attacked the alleged killer violently, sparking a large brawl.
Anarchy broke out in the courtroom as 18-year-old Victor Nathaneal Rivas awaited his entrance for his murder trial in the May 2022 shooting death of 15-year-old Ethan Soto.
According to the San Antonio Express, Rivas then made a gesture toward Soto’s weeping relatives in the gallery.
Over the course of more than 30 seconds, one of Soto’s male relatives hopped the fence and began hitting the accused murderer, and three more soon joined in.
KSAT video shows two court bailiffs rushing in to break up a fight between two inmates in front of a bench full of other inmates.
Once Soto’s family and Rivas were separated, court officers cleared the gallery and took the inmates from the courtroom.
Rivas was only lightly hurt.
“He is going to be bruised and swollen,” Rivas’ attorney Adam La Hood told the San Antonio Express.
Two adult males and two juvenile males were taken into custody and charged with assault and disturbing the court.
KSAT cites an arrest document in claiming that Rivas killed Soto out of retaliation for the younger teen’s theft of THC cartridges from Rivas.
In his wrath over the robbery, Rivas allegedly fired shots at Soto’s house, missing the teen by a few feet.
Soto’s mom allegedly paid for the stolen cartridges in person with Rivas, but Rivas has denied ever meeting with Soto’s mom to do so.
Rivas then reached out to an underage girl on Instagram and asked for her to set up a drug deal with Soto and “stated several times that he was looking for the person who robbed him and was going to ‘catch’ him when he saw him,” the affidavit stated.
The girl and Soto allegedly made plans to conduct a cocaine transaction utilizing the stolen cartridges when Soto was ambushed by Rivas.
Multiple shots were fired at Soto, and he was taken to the hospital, but he did not survive.
An suspected killer also made gestures toward the victim’s family last week, causing a brawl in a Texas courtroom.
The mother of Frank DeLeon Jr.’s accused murder victim, ex-girlfriend Diamond Alvarez, testified against him and he allegedly laughed at her.
Anna Machado, Alvarez’s mother, came off the stand and made a beeline for DeLeon, but was halted by a bailiff; this prompted Alvarez’s uncle to jump in and punch the defendant.
