Traffic accident shooter pleads guilty to killing Houston teenager

HOUSTON — A man charged with murder on the road in a rage who shot a Houston teenager killed after an Astros game has agreed to a plea deal.

Gerald Williams, 34, was due to stand trial for the 2021 murder of 17-year-old David Castro. Instead, he pleaded guilty to the murder on Tuesday and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s office.

Paul Castro, the victim’s father, said the family was behind the plea deal.

“It’s been 18 months and two weeks. This is the first time I’ve felt a bit of peace,” Castro said.

He said they were grateful that they wouldn’t have to relive the horror of that night during the trial and that his other son wouldn’t have to testify.

Castro thanked the people who provided Crime Stoppers with over 100 clues that helped find his son’s killer.

“It’s really unusual for a person who shoots in a rage on the roads to end up in jail,” Castro said. “And it only happened because the city of Houston came together. They heard David’s story, all the horror of it, and they wanted to do something to make it a little better.”

Castro addressed Williams in court at a hearing on Tuesday morning.

“When I first heard that this was possible, I started fantasizing about different ways to do it,” Castro said. “The news shows when people lose their temper, scream and scream, and I wanted to do it, I wanted to do a lot of things, but I realized that none of this will bring my son back.”

The activist-turned-father was a key voice in the fight to end the revolving door of the discount bond system in Harris County after Williams was released. He and other families later won the battle to change this loophole.

But Castro said that even today’s sentencing did not bring a sense of closure.

“And it was like this deep, deep immeasurable feeling of pain and sadness,” Castro said. “I needed him to know that he terrified my two sons, and one of them did not survive. I hope he dreams about it every night, no matter how old he dreams, because every night I go to bed with this image in my head.”

Castro said he hopes other drivers will stop and think before acting the next time the other driver is “acting like a jerk” and they are thinking about David’s case or other senseless deaths due to road rage.

According to court documents, Paul Castro, David’s father, had a verbal altercation with a man driving a white Buick as they left a game at Minute Maid Park. He told the police that the Buick had started chasing them downtown.

Paul Castro told police he sped off trying to avoid a suspect who fired several shots through the rear window of their truck. David Castro was wounded and later died from his injuries.

Court documents say officers obtained surveillance video from nearby Valero and found two shell casings on a U-turn in front of a gas station.

Police said a vehicle matching the description was up for sale through Offer Up, so they tracked down the person who posted the ad. According to court documents, Williams bought the Buick Lacrosse on May 30, and the car could not be found after the fatal shooting.

Police said the burned-out car was found in a field near Williams’ home, and mobile phone records showed Williams was in the area of ​​the shooting at the time it happened.

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