Texas father convicted of fatally killing teenage son

DALLAS – A Texas man was convicted of capital murder when his 14-year-old son fatally shot and killed three teenagers.

Richard Acosta, 34, was convicted on Friday by a Dallas jury of capital murder for the 2021 shooting of 14-year-old Xavier Gonzalez; Ivan Noyala, 16 years old; and Rafael Garcia, 17, the day after Christmas. A 15-year-old newly hired cook was wounded in the shootout and recovered.

Acosta testified that he did not know that his son, Abel Acosta, had a gun or shot at anyone, only that the teenager got into his car and told his father to drive away because someone was shooting.

Abel Acosta disappeared shortly after the shooting and authorities say he remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous.

Prosecutors alleged that Richard Acosta sought to get rid of the evidence and tried to get his family out of Garland.

Richard Acosta, who turned himself in to police days after the shooting and was charged almost a year ago, said his son disappeared later on the night of the shooting.

“We are only halfway to justice,” the Garland Police Department said in a social media statement, saying authorities will continue their search. “We won’t stop until Abel Acosta is captured.”

Richard Acosta has testified that he does not know where his son is.

Acosta, who faces life in prison without parole because prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, was convicted under a Texas law that allows accomplices to be charged even if they did not commit the actual crime.