Good Guy with a Gun #162: Bexar County, TX

Pro tip: When robbing a gun buyer, make sure he doesn’t already have a gun. Pro-er tip: Make sure his partner doesn’t, either. | Original incident: April 12, 2024

These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is significantly updated from the calendar version.

I’m changing my format a little to manage the setting and the dramatis personae.

Three people were selling a Glock 27. These are the bad guys:

• Martin Henderson

• Mario Duarte, who listed the Glock for sale

• Yasmine Duarte, who was Henderson’s fiance and Mario’s sister

Two people came to buy it:

• Victor Hernandez

• Pedro¹, last name not available

They met in the parking lot of an apartment complex, the three bad-guy sellers in a black Buick and the two buyers in a black BMW. (It would help me a lot if the buyers were in a white car, but we go to war with the story we have, not the one we want.)

Yes, “again.” Even though he doesn’t kill Victor or Pedro. We’ll get to all of that by the end of the story.

The incident

Mario Duarte got out of the Buick and stood at the window of the BMW, negotiating with Pedro. They agreed to a price of $500.

Then Duarte told Pedro to get into the Buick to complete the transaction.

Hernandez thought the sellers were behaving suspiciously, so when Pedro got into the Buick, Hernandez stayed in the BMW and put his personal Glock in his lap.

Good thing. Duarte took the money, then loaded the gun that was supposedly for sale and pointed it at Pedro. Pedro smacked it aside and jumped out of the car.

Duarte made eye contact with Hernandez and acted as if he were going to aim the weapon at him. So Hernandez shot at him, and he continued to shoot toward the Buick as Pedro joined him and they drove away. (Continue to shoot until the threat is neutralized, as they say.) After reaching a safe distance, Hernandez called 911.

The aftermath

Mario Duarte was wounded in the legs. Martin Henderson was shot in the head. They were both taken to the hospital; Henderson died there.

Yasmine Duarte wasn’t wounded. She drove back to her apartment and shoved a bag with four weapons in it — including the now-bloody Glock — behind her washer/dryer.

Much of this was caught on video, including Yasmine entering her apartment with the bag, which enabled Bexar County deputies to corroborate Hernandez’s story and recover the bag. As a result, they determined that Duarte, not the shooter Hernandez, was responsible for the violence.

Mario Duarte was charged with aggravated robbery and murder. The murder charge stems from the fact that he “committed an act clearly dangerous to human life that caused the death of Martin Henderson.”

Yasmine Duarte was charged with aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence.

Other notes

Added color

1. I’ve scrupulously avoided calling Victor Hernandez and Pedro “good guys,” and with significant reason: I’ve learned that Pedro might have been a juvenile. That wouldn’t change the fact that Duarte was threatening to kill them, that Hernandez’s actions were properly in self-defense, or that Duarte was charged with murder — but it does cast a pall on Hernandez’s reasons for being there in the first place.

2. In 2022, Mario Duarte was put on trial for the murder of Sabstein Diaz, then 16, who was selling Duarte drugs. Duarte was found not guilty. KSAT 12 discusses that a bit below. It notes at the end that Duarte was facing a separate charge for robbery at that time, stemming from another incident — he is not a nice man.

Errata

The calendar entry left out Yasmine Duarte. Some other news sources don’t mention her, but most do.

News 4 San Antonio calls Mario “Duarte,” then calls Yasmine “Duerte,” and then calls Mario “Duerte” from then on. They’re the only ones who use the e, so I assume it’s just a mistake.

Sources

Multiple sources gave slightly different information for this story, which I’ve tried to synthesize.

KSAT 12 is the standout for the depth and clarity of coverage it gave to all facets of this story, including the video posted above.

KENS 5 did a pretty good job as well, and gave the story a minute of airtime, including community reaction. On-air, they didn’t yet know that the “victims” were the robbers.

News 4 San Antonio (looks identical to Fox) and the San Antonio Express-News did a good job here as well.

News Radio WOAI 1200 gave it a brief mention.

Finally, Smoketales. They don’t have new information, but they certainly have a certain style when reading through these news articles.

1. I believe his name may really be “Jesus” — it appeared in one of the newsreels — but I found myself writing sentences that I couldn’t take seriously, like “He continued to negotiate with Jesus.”