Police Arrest 3 Suspects Linked to Venezuelan Gang Over Texas Kidnapping, Murder

Police tape cordons off a street, in a file photograph. Matt Rourke/AP Photo

Three individuals believed to be affiliated with the Venezuelan street gang known as Tren de Aragua have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping and murder of a Texas man in August, police announced on Oct. 28.

Ehiker Alexander Morales Mendoza, 38; Carlos Luis Zambrano Bolivar, 25; and Jhonata Nahin Toro Gonzalez, 22, were apprehended out of state and are currently awaiting extradition to Texas, the Farmers Branch Police Department said.

Detectives in Farmers Branch, Texas, arrested Bolivar and Gonzalez in Aurora, Colorado, where they had been taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Mendoza was taken into custody in Las Cruces, New Mexico, after police were able to identify him through the victim’s cellphone.

The three men have been charged with capital murder and two counts of aggravated kidnapping in connection with the death of Nilzult Arneaud Petit, 33, who was found dead on Aug. 24 in Farmers Branch.

A fourth suspect, identified as 29-year-old Jhonny Jesus Martinez Serrano, remains at large, police said.

Anyone with information about Serrano’s whereabouts is being asked to contact the Farmers Branch Police Department at [phone] or via email at [email protected]. Tips can remain anonymous, police noted.

According to police, a passerby discovered a body—later identified as Petit—in the roadway in the 1100 block of Valley View Lane in the early hours of the morning on Aug. 24, and notified law enforcement.

Officers who responded to the scene found Petit with a single gunshot wound to the head. While there, detectives were also informed that two juveniles, possibly related to Petit, had been seen walking on the service road of an interstate highway in the City of Lewisville.

When police arrived at the service road, they learned Petit and the two juveniles had been kidnapped by several unknown suspects from an apartment complex on Fair Oaks Crossing in Dallas at about 12:30 a.m.

Texas Launches ‘Comprehensive’ Operation Targeting Gang

Police said the suspects drove Petit and the juveniles to the location in Farmers Branch and subsequently shot and killed him before fleeing with the two juveniles in a light-colored four-door sedan.

The juveniles were later released, unharmed, on the service road, police said.

Investigators learned Petit was an associate of the suspects and was allegedly involved in a “complex ATM theft operation” targeting several locations across the country.

Police believe that following the latest ATM theft offense, the suspects accused Petit of withholding portions of the stolen money from other group members and demanded he pay them.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a National Rifle Association convention at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas on May 18, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Petit was either unable or unwilling to do so and was ultimately kidnapped, alongside the two juveniles, before being killed, police said. Petit and the suspects are likely affiliated with the notoriously violent Tren de Aragua gang, according to the police.

According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the gang regularly engages in criminal activities such as human smuggling and trafficking, money laundering, and illicit drug trafficking, and is rapidly expanding its presence throughout the Western Hemisphere.

In September, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization while announcing a “comprehensive, statewide operation” by the Texas Department of Public Safety that will “aggressively target” the gang and disrupt its criminal operations throughout the state.

Abbott said the recent entry and expansion of the gang is a “dangerous and deadly problem” facing Texas and the nation and that his office will not allow the gang to use Texas as a “base of operations to terrorize” its citizens.

“They have a target on their back, and we are going after them,” Abbott said. “Texas is the wrong state for them to try to do business in.”