Man jailed for murder after allegedly shooting northeast El Paso neighbor with AK-47 in dog dispute
UPDATE #2, Sept. 16: ABC-7 obtained court documents on Thursday with details about a deadly shooting that happened in the 8900 block of Robert Drive in northeast El Paso.
28-year-old Eduardo David Blanco is charged with murder in the death of 26-year-old Atravius Burkes.
According to the court documents, it all began around 1 a.m. Wednesday when Blanco's dog urinated in the yard of a next door neighbor.
The documents said Burkes, whose girlfriend lives at the home, confronted Blanco about it and he retaliated by urinating on Blanco's house.
Authorities said Blanco, in turn, pointed an AK-47 at Burkes.
Court documents said the situation escalated and Blanco eventually shot Burkes multiple times.
Detectives said Blanco admitted to shooting Burkes, but claimed it was in self defense after Burkes showed Blanco a gun he had in his waistband.
UPDATE #1, Sept. 16: The man accused in El Paso’s latest deadly shooting has been booked into the El Paso County Jail on a murder charge, police said Thursday.
The suspect, identified as 28-year old, Eduardo David Blanco, was charged was being held under a $750,000 dollar bond.
Police also identified the victim of Wednesday morning's northeast El Paso slaying as 26-year-old Atravius Burkes. He was the city's 23rd homicide of this year, compared with 22 at this same time a year ago.
In a statement announcing the murder charge against Blanco, police provided these details of what happened in the 8900 block of Robert Drive: "Burkes was in possession of a handgun and made it known that he had the firearm. As the confrontation continued, Blanco fired a rifle that he was in possession of multiple times at Burkes killing him."
Authorities indicated that Blanco was also booked late Wednesday night on an outstanding criminal warrant for family violence that took place back in April.
UPDATE, Sept. 15: In an update provided Wednesday evening, El Paso police disclosed that the 26-year-old murder victim was found dead at the scene after "suffering multiple gunshot wounds" - but his identity wasn't released.
Police also provided new details on the arrest of the 28-year-old suspect, writing in a report that "officers at the scene learned the location of the suspect. The officers ordered the suspect to walk out of his home. After a few moments, the suspect exited the residence and was taken into custody without incident."
Authorities indicated the man remained in custody on Wednesday evening, but said charges had not yet been filed. They indicated his name and mugshot would be released once that happened.
Detectives and Crime Scene Unit technicians spent the day continuing to collect evidence at the shooting scene, as well as interviewing possible witnesses. Officials said in a statement that "many details of this case cannot be made public to protect the sanctity of the continuing investigation."
ORIGINAL REPORT, Sept. 15: EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Paso police said a man was shot and killed in northeast El Paso early Wednesday morning.
Police said they had the murder suspect in custody, and identified him as a 28-year-old man.
The victim was identified as a 26-year-old man.
The shooting happened just before 3 a.m. in the 8900 block of Robert Drive.
EPPD Crimes Against Persons detectives and the department's Criminalistics units closed down the area for their investigation.
