Ft. Bliss soldiers arrested for drug-related killing of teenager

Sheriff’s deputies arrested two Fort Bliss soldiers Wednesday in connection to the killing of Michael Tapia, 16, in Montana Vista.

Tyler Shane Hall, 20; and Eric Duvall, 25, are both charged with Murder. Both are being held on a one million dollar bond.

Tapia was found dead near Flagger Street in Montana Vista early Sunday evening. His body had a gunshot wound to the back of the neck, according to court documents.

Court documents obtained by the ABC-7 I-Team reveal the killing appeared to be drug related.

An investigation led detectives with the sheriff’s office to a witness identified in a court document as “Source of Information 1” (SO1).

SO1 was inside a home at 11632 Sunset Rose in East El Paso with Hall, who allegedly accused Tapia of stealing drugs from him.

According to the document, the witness told detectives Duvall and Hall confronted Tapia and escorted him out of the home. When they returned about an hour-and-a-half later, Hall was laughing and allegedly saying he killed Tapia by shooting him in the back of the head with an AR-15 rifle.

A second “source of information” (SO2) told detectives he/she observed Duvall arrive at the home at 11632 Sunset Rose with an AR-15 rifle the day of the killing. SO2 allegedly witnessed the victim crying and pleading for mercy. Tapia allegedly told Duvall he would “pay him back,” according to SO2.

Duvall allegedly replied, “(Expletive) you. We’ll fix this right now,” according to SO2.

The second witness went on to state he/she observed Tapia, Duvall, and Hall leaving the home in Duvall’s truck. When Duvall and Hall returned more than an hour later, Duvall allegedly said, “we killed him.” Hall allegedly said, “I shot him in the head, I did a double tap on his head,” according to the witness.