A Houston apartment dispute allegedly turned deadly after a tenant is accused of shooting and killing two employees inside the complex’s leasing office.
Authorities say Derrick Duane Jackson is facing two counts of capital murder after 67-year-old Rosa Linda Ybarra and 47-year-old Felix Antonio Jimenez Macz were found dead inside the leasing office at the Park at Woodlake Apartments in west Houston.
According to court documents, the deadly confrontation happened Thursday evening at the apartment complex on Ella Lee Lane.
Houston police responded to the leasing office around 6:45 p.m. after receiving reports of gunfire. When officers and emergency responders arrived, they reportedly discovered Ybarra and Macz suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators later identified Jackson as a suspect, and he was arrested the following day.
The case took an even more disturbing turn when court documents alleged that Jackson admitted to shooting the two apartment employees during an argument involving the terms of his lease.
A magistrate judge wrote that Jackson allegedly confessed to “gunning down” the leasing manager and leasing agent during the dispute. Investigators also reportedly recovered multiple pieces of forensic evidence from a motel room connected to Jackson.
Authorities have described the victims as employees of the apartment complex.
Ybarra’s family has since spoken publicly about her life and the people she cared for. Her granddaughter, Saleen Salinas, said she was out of town when she learned that her grandmother had been killed.
According to family members, Ybarra spent years helping people in her community. Before working as a leasing consultant, she operated a childcare service and helped transport neighborhood children to school.
Her daughter, Krystal Martinez, described her mother as someone who regularly helped families who needed childcare and support.
Family members also said Ybarra cared for an adult son with a disability and was in the process of adopting a 3-year-old boy from foster care when she was killed. A GoFundMe campaign has been established in her memory to help support her family and assist with funeral expenses.
Macz was also identified as one of the victims. Court documents cited by Houston news outlets allege that he suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was also stabbed during the incident.
Jackson remains in the Harris County Jail and is being held without bond, according to Law&Crime. Prosecutors have sought to keep him detained as the case moves forward.
The allegations against Jackson are serious, but he remains legally presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in court.
What reportedly began as a dispute involving the terms of an apartment lease has now become a double-homicide investigation, leaving two families grieving and raising questions about what happened inside that leasing office before the gunfire erupted.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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