SAN ANTONIO — Virginia Fuentes-Gonzalez says she’ll forever be haunted by witnessing the death of her father, who was shot and killed in a Taco Palenque parking lot early Saturday morning. The murder suspect, who’s now behind bars, is her boyfriend of three years.
“I’m constantly replaying images in my head at night. I can’t sleep,” Fuentes-Gonzalez said.
On Sunday, San Antonio police arrested Franco Summers, 32, who now faces a murder charge in the killing of 43-year-old Christopher Fuentes.
The shooting happened just before 12:30 a.m. in the parking lot of Taco Palenque off Blanco Road near Loop 1604.
“Franco looked me in my eyes and then shot my father, and I keep seeing my father’s face once he realized he was shot,” Fuentes-Gonzalez said.
According to the arrest affidavit, Fuentes-Gonzalez told investigators her father had just been released from prison and was living with her and Summers at an apartment.
The three had been drinking before they decided to go to a bar Friday night, the affidavit said. An argument took place after Fuentes-Gonzalez and Christopher Fuentes refused to pay a cover charge to enter the bar. The arrest warrant states Summers became irate and stated he had a gun.
“We kept getting threats in regards to the gun that Franco had. He was saying I’m strapped, don’t play with me, you already know how I am,” Fuentes-Gonzalez said.
The altercation escalated once they all made it to the Taco Palenque parking lot.
Arresting documents indicate video footage shows Christopher Fuentes walking up to the driver of the car Summers was in and eventually reaching through the window to grab his right arm. The affidavit states the suspect fired multiple shots, striking the victim and killing him. Summers then zoomed off in a vehicle at a high rate of speed.
Fuentes-Gonzalez, who witnessed the shooting, hid in the kitchen of the Taco Palenque and called 911. She identified Summers as the suspected shooter through a photograph.
The following day, SAPD responded to a “family disturbance with a gun.”
At the scene, officers discovered Summers was the person involved in the family disturbance who also happened to be the murder suspect they were searching for. Summers gave himself up to police and now faces charges of murder, evading arrest and assault.
“I felt like we’re one step closer to getting justice for my father,” Fuentes-Gonzalez said.
While the justice system takes over, a daughter is only left with piercing pain and memories of her father.
“My father was my best friend. I’m going to miss his hugs. I’m going to miss laughing with him. I’m going to miss all the memories we created.”
The family has created a GoFundMe for burial expenses.