19-year-old rearrested on murder charge after plea hearing for Socorro shooting case

SOCORRO, Texas (KVIA) -- A 19-year-old was rearrested in court Friday on a murder charge during his plea hearing in a deadly shooting case.

Gael Quintana is one of four suspects accused of a deadly shooting that happened at a Socorro house party in December 2025. The shooting killed 33-year-old Jose Avila, documents said.

Quintana has been charged with murder and tampering/fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair, court documents said. He originally only faced the tampering with evidence charge.

According to documents, the shooting happened Dec. 27, 2025, at a home on Cyan Valley near Nuevo Hueco Tanks Road and N Loop Drive. Avila owned the home and let his children host a party there, documents said.

Police went to the home around 10:09 p.m. after receiving reports about shots fired. Witnesses said four men got into an argument with another person attending the party. The men allegedly got into a vehicle and shot several rounds at the home as they drove off, documents said.

Avila was shot in the chest, and another man was possibly shot in the foot, documents said. Avila later died at a hospital.

A witness helped identify one as a 15-year-old boy, documents said.

Detectives received video footage showing the four suspects allegedly shooting from a vehicle. After showing pictures from the video to local law enforcement and school districts, authorities identified a second suspect, 17-year-old David Ramirez, documents said.

Avila's family told authorities they heard one of the other suspects lived at the Tres Palmas Apartments, documents said. The apartment manager told detectives one of the suspects in a picture sent by Avila's family looked like Quintana, documents said.

Detectives went to one of the apartment units and saw a vehicle matching the one seen in the video footage from the night of the shooting, documents said. Investigators also found Quintana's Facebook profile, which had a picture of him wearing the same clothes he had during the shooting. Documents said his Facebook also had a picture of him standing next to the suspected vehicle.

According to documents, authorities previously pulled Quintana over in the same vehicle in October 2025. He allegedly told officers he owned the vehicle.

Documents said Quintana admitted to driving the vehicle during the shooting.

Investigators said Quintana said he was with one of the suspects as he dismantled and discarded the handgun in different parts of the desert. Quintana later showed detectives where the gun parts were buried, documents said.

As ABC-7 previously reported, the fourth suspect was a 16-year-old.