He was angry because he'd been 'disrespected.' So he murdered a man, he told police
A Wilmington man who told police he'd been "disrespected" by an acquaintance in the past admitted to shooting the man three times early Sunday morning, killing him.
According to court documents obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal, 43-year-old Francisco Valencia-Avila and 35-year-old Lupe Bedolla-Castillo were at El Mocajete Mexican Restaurant, located at North Union and West Third streets, around 1 a.m. Sunday.
Several other acquaintances were also in the restaurant at the time.
Valencia-Avila told police that a friend was in the restaurant's bathroom when the friend was approached by Bedolla-Castillo's friends. An "altercation" occurred, though an arrest warrant does not detail what happened.
Angry about the incident, Valencia-Avila and two other people left the restaurant to get a gun, the 43-year-old told police. When they came back, they sat at a table in the middle of the restaurant, surveillance video showed.
There, Valencia-Avila began to stew.
"(Bedolla-Castillo) had been offending him in the past, which caused him to feel anger," the detective wrote in an arrest warrant.
"While sitting at a table, he continued to think about times (Bedolla-Castillo) had disrespected him in the past," the detective continued.
Having apparently had enough, Valencia-Avila got up from the table and walked over to Bedolla-Castillo, telling him to walk outside, an arrest warrant says. It was just before just before 1:40 a.m.
Surveillance shows the two men stepping out of the restaurant and onto the sidewalk. Then, Valencia-Avila fired three shots at Bedolla-Castillo.
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Bedolla-Castillo fell to the ground, bleeding. When first responders arrived − the restaurant is located directly across from a Wilmington fire station − they tried to save him, but he died at a local hospital.
A little more than 12 hours later, around 2:15 p.m. Sunday, Valencia-Avila turned up at New Castle County police headquarters off Route 13 near New Castle. There, he told officers he'd killed someone.
County police called a Wilmington detective, who drove to the building and took Valencia-Avila into custody. In an interview, the 43-year-old admitted to the killing and explained why he shot Bedolla-Castillo.
He also told police that as he walked outside with Bedolla-Castillo, he told the man he was going to kill him. After the shooting, he said he threw the gun in the 1900 block of W. 3rd St.
Police later found a black and silver revolver that matched one seen on surveillance video.
Valencia-Avila is being held at Howard R. Young Correctional Institution on $500,000 cash bail.
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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Wilmington shooter was angry at being 'disrespected,' he told police
