Baldemar Flores, a 31-year-old man, was shot and killed on February 5, 2021, outside a hotel along the East Freeway in Houston, Texas. Houston police were dispatched to the hotel at 10801 East Freeway, along the Interstate 10 East service road, at about 9:50 p.m. after receiving a report of a shooting. When officers arrived, they found Flores unresponsive in the parking lot with at least one gunshot wound.
Paramedics responded but were unable to save him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators initially had little information about who was responsible. Police said there were no known witnesses or identified suspects immediately after the killing. Later reporting provided additional detail about the attack, indicating Flores was outside the motel when a vehicle pulled up near him and gunfire was directed at him from the vehicle. He was struck and left lying in the parking lot as the vehicle fled. The Houston Police Department Homicide Division took over the investigation and began working to identify the people involved.
As the investigation developed, detectives identified two suspects: Josie Torres and Israel Perez. Authorities accused both of participating in Flores' killing. Torres was taken into custody by members of the Houston Police Department's Westside Patrol Division Tactical Unit on August 16, 2021. She was subsequently charged with murder, with the case assigned to the 179th State District Court in Harris County.
Perez remained out of custody considerably longer. On September 2, 2022, authorities filed a murder charge against him in the 248th State District Court. Houston police publicly sought assistance locating Perez and said he was also wanted in connection with unrelated allegations involving aggravated robbery, felony evading arrest, and possession of a controlled substance.
The search for Perez eventually extended beyond Texas. On October 4, 2022, members of the Oneida County Sheriff's Office and Forest County Sheriff's Office arrested him in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Houston police announced the arrest several days later, stating that Perez was being held while awaiting extradition back to Houston to face the murder charge. With his capture, both people publicly identified by investigators as suspects in Flores' killing were in custody and facing murder charges.
Available online law-enforcement releases and news reports document the arrests and murder charges against Torres and Perez, but the sources located do not establish a final trial outcome or conviction for either defendant. The publicly available material therefore supports describing them as accused and charged in connection with Flores' death rather than stating that either was ultimately convicted.
