Texas Teens Charged in Deadly Shooting After Firing Nearly 100 Bullets into Apartment of Romantic Rival Killing the Wrong Man

Insets, left to right: Fernando Amaya and Christopher Portillo Luna (Houston Police Department). Background: Apartment the two allegedly shot up, killing one man

Two Texas teenagers have been charged with murder after allegedly opening fire on an apartment, mistakenly killing a man and injuring another.

Fernando Amaya and Christopher Portillo Luna, both 17, are accused of murdering 41-year-old Marcos Cotto Torres in a targeted attack that police say was based on a false assumption. Investigators believe Amaya suspected his girlfriend was cheating on him, prompting him and Portillo Luna to launch a deadly assault on the apartment of a man he believed to be his romantic rival.

Christopher Portillo Luna

Houston police responded to the scene shortly before 1 a.m. on March 18 at an apartment complex in west Houston after receiving reports of gunfire. Upon arrival, officers discovered two men had been shot. Paramedics found Cotto Torres unresponsive in an upstairs bedroom with multiple gunshot wounds, including to the back of the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A second victim, who suffered a gunshot wound to the buttocks, was transported to a hospital for treatment.

According to a probable cause affidavit, another resident of the apartment stated that his younger sister, a minor, was dating Amaya. Police say Amaya suspected she was unfaithful with another resident of the apartment, though that individual was unharmed in the attack. The girlfriend later told detectives that Amaya had threatened to shoot up the apartment and take his own life.

Fernando Amaya

Investigators allege that Amaya carried out his threat, firing 84 rounds from an AK-style rifle. Surveillance footage reportedly captured Amaya and Portillo Luna fleeing the scene in a white SUV belonging to a family member. The aftermath of the attack left bullet holes in the apartment’s concrete walls and windows boarded up.

Amaya was arrested hours after the shooting, and Portillo Luna was taken into custody later that week. Both suspects remain in jail on bonds exceeding $1 million. Their next court appearance is scheduled for April 29.