In the early hours of May 28, 2025, Gabriel Lee Garza, 19, a Black male, met with others outside a residence on the 2900 block of Cantabrian Drive in Killeen. It was around 1:42 a.m. when shots rang out; multiple rounds were fired and Gabriel Lee Garza, 19, male, was struck several times. Officers arrived to find him wounded, and Killeen Fire Department medics began life-saving measures before transporting him by ambulance to Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center. Despite efforts, Gabriel Lee Garza, 19, male, was pronounced dead at 6:29 a.m. by Justice of the Peace Nicola James, who ordered an autopsy at the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas.
Detectives opened a homicide investigation and, in their preliminary account, said that Gabriel Lee Garza, 19, male, had met with “two to three” males just before the gunfire. Investigators believe Gabriel Lee Garza, 19, male, and the suspects knew each other, a detail that shaped early leads and canvasses of the neighborhood along Cantabrian Drive. The case was taken up by the Killeen Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division, Robbery-Homicide Unit, which continued gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses.
Local coverage mirrored the department's account: officers were dispatched shortly before 2 a.m., found Gabriel Lee Garza, 19, male, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, and rushed him for treatment that could not save him. Reports reiterated the location and timing of the shooting and emphasized the volume of gunfire and the belief that the parties were acquainted. Community outlets and violence-tracking sites later listed Gabriel Lee Garza, 19, male, among those lost to gun violence in Killeen on that date.
As of the initial public statements following May 28, 2025, police had not announced any arrests in the killing of Gabriel Lee Garza, 19, male. Officials publicly described multiple suspects and asked for information but did not name a suspect or release warrant details. No subsequent departmental update identifying an arrested suspect was included in the May 29 release or in the immediate follow-up coverage.
