Jose Jesus Gonzalez, 34, a male of Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, was shot on the morning of June 20, 2025, at Nations Tobin Park in Northeast El Paso and later died at the hospital. The first 911 call came in at 8:48 a.m.; officers arrived at 8831 Railroad Drive and found three men with gunshot wounds inside a red car that had crashed into a tree. Jose Jesus Gonzalez, 34, male, was rushed to University Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries the same day.
The scene bore the marks of sudden violence and chaos: medics stabilized the wounded where the car had come to rest, and a helicopter lifted one patient as others were transported by ambulance. Investigators soon identified the man who died as Jose Jesus Gonzalez, 34, male, and the surviving victims as 22-year-olds Jacob Mathew Gonzalez and Ethan Alexander Ramos. All three had been in the same vehicle moments before the gunfire.
Within days, detectives with the Crimes Against Persons Unit arrested Robert Joseph Privett, 22, on a murder charge in connection with the shooting that killed Jose Jesus Gonzalez, 34, male, and wounded the two others. He was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility on a $1,000,000 bond after investigators identified him as the prime suspect.
According to court documents described by local reporters, surveillance video captured the suspect at the park before and after the shooting, and a gravely injured survivor identified him to officers at the scene. A witness told police he heard shots and saw a man firing into the side of the crashed car before jumping a wall and running away. Records also noted prior violent charges in the suspect’s background, details that surfaced as the case moved from frantic response to formal accusation.
Away from the flashing lights and crime-scene tape, the loss of Jose Jesus Gonzalez, 34, male, resonated through his family and community. An obituary confirmed his death on June 20, 2025, and remembered him as a devoted son, brother, and father, while a family fundraiser described how two younger relatives survived the same burst of gunfire. The name, age, and date align with memorial listings noting that he was lost to gun violence in El Paso on that day.
