Veneranda Martinez-Gutierrez, a 36-year-old Hispanic woman, tragically lost her life on December 6, 2019, in Austin, Texas. The incident occurred early in the morning at a Valero gas station on East Riverside Drive, where Martinez-Gutierrez was selling tamales. She was in her car with her three children when her estranged husband, 43-year-old Florencio Felix Barron, approached the vehicle and shot her multiple times.
Martinez-Gutierrez died in her daughter's arms, trying to protect her children from the attack. After shooting her, Barron walked to the front of the car and turned the gun on himself, dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Both Martinez-Gutierrez and Barron were pronounced dead at the scene at 5:45 a.m.
The tragic event was witnessed by Martinez-Gutierrez's three children, who were in the car at the time. Despite their pleas for their father to stop, Barron carried out the attack. Martinez-Gutierrez's neighbor, Itza Garcia, recounted how the children tried to defend their mother and how she ultimately collapsed in her daughter's lap. The children, aged between 10 and 13, were unharmed physically but left traumatized by the incident.
Barron had a history of violence and had been deported to Mexico after being convicted in 2016 for the sexual assault of a child at Allison Elementary School. Despite his deportation, Barron reentered the United States illegally and began stalking Martinez-Gutierrez, both in person and online. Martinez-Gutierrez had reported his harassment to the Austin police multiple times, but no preventive measures were taken. Garcia expressed frustration and sorrow over the lack of intervention, questioning why authorities did not act to prevent the tragedy.
In the aftermath of the murder-suicide, an arrest warrant was issued for a man accused of stealing the gun used in the incident from the scene. The suspect was later found and arrested. The Travis County Medical Examiner's Office conducted autopsies to determine the official cause and manner of death for both Martinez-Gutierrez and Barron. The community rallied to support Martinez-Gutierrez's children, with Garcia starting a GoFundMe campaign to help cover funeral expenses and provide Christmas presents for the children. The Austin Police Department encouraged anyone with information about the incident to contact Crime Stoppers or the APD Homicide unit.
