AUSTIN (KXAN) — Court documents obtained by KXAN on Friday provided more details, including the name of the man who’s body was found at an east Austin park on Sept. 11.
The man was identified as Salvador Sanchez, 30, according to an affidavit.
Shortly after 9:30 p.m., Austin Police officers responded to a call from the Travis County Sheriff’s Office after a body was found with gunshot wounds at John Trevino Jr., Metro Park, located at 9501 FM 969, according to police.
When police arrived on the scene, they found Sanchez, who’s body was found in a thick brush of bamboo decomposing, according to the affidavit. Furthermore, the he had gunshot wounds to his body. Due to the decomposition of the body, police could not make a positive identification of him at the time, court records said.
Police interviewed a witness near the area who said there was a recent disturbance between two neighbors. Those neighbors were identified as Sanchez and Jared Nelson, 45. The disturbance prompted TCSO to respond, court records said. That disturbance occurred on Sept. 8 at a residence in the 4000 block of Lower Drive in Travis County.
A neighbor on the block told police within the past few days, between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., multiple gunshots came from the Nelson’s residence, according to the affidavit. APD officers did a welfare check at the residence and found multiple spent cartridges on the ground.
Then, on Sept. 12, APD obtained a search warrant for the residence and found a blood spatter, court documents said.
An autopsy of Sanchez determined the cause of death was gunshot wounds and blunt force trauma to the back of the head, according to the affidavit. His death was ruled a homicide.
Then, on Sept. 15, officers responded to a trespass urgent call in the 8900 block of Capitol Drive, for a man, later identified as Nelson, who was on top of the roof, court records said. Nelson admitted to police that he shot a man known as “Diablo” on his property on Sept. 9, according to the affidavit. Nelson identified Sanchez as the one he shot, according to the affidavit.
He said Sanchez was holding a metal crowbar in his hand and was angry with Nelson for calling police. Then, he said he shot Sanchez until the firearm malfunctioned. When Sanchez tried to run, that is when Nelson said he struck him the the head with a wooden post. He then dragged Sanchez along the fence line to thick bamboo where officers originally found him, according to the affidavit.
Although court documents said there was probable cause to arrest the Nelson, it was not immediately clear if he was in custody.
KXAN reached out to APD for more information and will update this article as the information becomes available.