Anum Valliani
NewsWest 9
ALPINE - The Alpine Police Department is continuing to investigate the shooting that left one man dead and injured two others Tuesday night.
NewsWest 9 was there soon after the shooting happened and saw as community members came out to the scene right in the center of town. Some were just curious, others came to show support and another group was just praying it wasn't their son or brother or cousin laying there in the front yard.
It happened outside a small house located on East Holland Avenue with witnesses not too far away.
"I heard the four or five shots go off and I thought it might have been firecrackers or something. But then I took an order closer to the street and that's when I seen the body on the sidewalk," a woman who wanted to remain anonymous, said.
She said she was working nearby when it happened.
Two men were injured including 27-year-old John Cisneros and 37-year-old Wayne Witcher, both of Alpine. Another man, Reymundo Vega, was pronounced dead on the scene.
According to the woman, one of the men had tried to help Vega, saw that he couldn't and drove himself to the hospital. The other had hit the ground after being shot but then he got back up and collapsed again until an ambulance came to assist.
The two received treatment at the Big Bend Regional Medical Center.
The police department has arrested 28 year-old Alvino Gonzalez in connection to the crime.
Alpine resident, Bobby Jimenez, went to high school with the trio and was caught off guard when he heard the news.
"They've always been good friends. I wouldn't expect one of them to do this to the other one. They went to school together and they've always been real close to each other. That's why it's hard to take in that one of them would do this to one of his friends," Jimenez said.
Many units responded on scene from Police Department and Sheriff's Office, all the way to Border Patrol.
According to a local business owner, Tom Cochrin, "it seemed like every law enforcement league in the county was right there."
Cochrin had actually seen a group of officers scurry out from the diner they were eating at when he supposedly heard the gun go off. He also claims as far as he knows, this is the first multiple shooting in Alpine in 100 years which goes against the "ideal small-town life" he's used to.
Officials told NewsWest 9 that the boys had been in trouble in the past but it's unknown what brought on this deadly fire. Now, shock, fear and questions are lingering in the small community that's just trying to move on.
"Oh it's gonna change a lot of things. It's gonna keep people on their toes for a long time, I mean it makes me nervous," Jimenez said.
Cochrin has contrasting views. "I mean I definitely want to get to the bottom of it, but at the same time, the rest of us still have lives to live here," he said. "I mean pay your respects to the deceased and figure out what happened. But at the same time, you have to go on with life as well."
"It breaks my heart. I just hope they find comfort, you know and God be with them," the woman added.
