10 March 14th-March 20th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | crime. So he copped to being in the car. Reyes’ home security camera caught footage of Angel being picked up in a four- door sedan, according to a Phoenix police incident report. Also, Angel shot a cell phone video while he was in the back of Gonzalez’s silver 2013 Toyota Corolla, with the two men up front. Police claimed that in the video “a tattoo on the arm of the front passenger matched to defendant (Gonzalez).” Homicide detectives showed Gonzalez photos posted to social media with Gonzalez and Hernandez “posing with Angel’s Glock after the murder,” according to the report. Gonzalez told police he had not been “thinking clearly” when he allowed that photo to be taken. Gonzalez’s account of the crime, according to police, goes like this: He was seated on the passenger side of the car. Hernandez drove. Gonzalez was armed with a Glock 19, and there was an AR-15 in the back of the car. Angel had his Glock “equipped with a weapon-mounted laser light.” Hernandez was unarmed. Gonzalez told police that Hernandez “asked Angel to see his gun,” and “unsus- pecting of Michael’s plans,” Angel handed over his Glock. Hernandez pulled the car over, ostensibly to “take a piss.” Instead, Gonzalez claimed, Hernandez “activated the gun’s blue-beamed laser” and “pointed the gun at Angel,” ordering him out of the car. Angel got out, asking, “Are you going to do me like that?” “A single gunshot answered Angel’s question,” according to the report. Gonzalez told police he didn’t witness the shot that took down Angel because he had his eyes closed. He and Hernandez initially fled but doubled back to look for the shell casing. That’s when he saw Angel on the ground, dead. An autopsy report by the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner listed Angel’s cause of death as “gunshot wound to the head.” Angel was shot in his left eye at close range, it said. The report mentioned that a “deformed projectile” had been extracted from the wound. But Reyes said she was told that not enough of the bullet survived for police to analyze. Similarly, the police never secured the cartridge from the fired round. During interrogation, the police asked Gonzalez why his DNA was found on Angel’s body. Gonzalez surmised that it came from a “friendly embrace.” A detec- tive also asked Gonzalez why his DNA was found on Angel’s necklace. Gonzalez couldn’t explain how it got there. Gonzalez said he asked Hernandez why he shot Angel. Hernandez supposedly told him that “the only way he could accom- plish the robbery would be to kill Angel to prevent retaliation from Angel’s family.” Hernandez’s version of events was similar, but with Gonzalez as the shooter. After initially denying involvement, Hernandez admitted to driving the car, with Gonzalez riding shotgun and Angel in the back. Hernandez said Gonzalez “robbed Angel of his necklace,” took Angel’s gun, ordered Angel out of the car and shot him. Hernandez claimed Gonzalez had a beef with Angel over a marijuana transac- tion. Gonzalez denied this to police. Both Gonzalez and Hernandez acknowledged they did not report the inci- dent to police. Reyes said the case agent told her police recovered Angel’s gun but could not match it definitively to the crime. ‘Wrong place, wrong time’ Reyes showed New Times a letter supposedly written by Hernandez at the prompting of police. In it, Hernandez gives his condolences to Angel’s family. “I am sorry for the lost (sic) of Angel,” stated the letter, which Reyes said she obtained from police. “I know what you guys are going thru is something that will never heal, but I just hope you can forgive me for being at the wrong place, wrong time.” “I will never be forgiven and I’m sorry I just wish I could take time back and I wouldn’t have never had brought Lister (Gonzalez) around Angel,” the letter continued. It’s signed, “Michael H.” Vince Goddard, a veteran prosecutor with the Pinal County Attorney’s Office, said he believed the letter, which New Times read to him, would be admissible, minus the line about Gonzalez. The letter places him at the scene and can be used with other evidence, such as the text messages, Angel’s video, GPS records and any DNA. The statements from Gonzalez “WHAT ELSE DOES HE HAVE TO DO TO GET SOME ATTENTION, TO GET SOME JUSTICE?” Justice for Angel? from p 8 >> p 12 Angelica Reyes at the grave of her son, Angel, who was shot and killed in 2021. (Photo by Stephen Lemons)
