Prosecutors say a Hewitt man who claimed self-defense now faces a murder charge in the death of his ex-wife’s boyfriend.

HEWITT, Texas — A McLennan County grand jury has indicted a Hewitt man on a murder charge after police said he shot his ex-wife’s boyfriend multiple times outside a home on Saddle Horn Drive on Feb. 5, then told officers he had acted in self-defense.

That indictment pushed a neighborhood shooting into a more formal stage of the criminal case. Prosecutors have identified Eric Rene Enriquez as the defendant and George Armando Turrubiartez Sr. as the man who was killed. The case now turns on a central dispute: whether Enriquez lawfully defended himself at his home or whether investigators have enough evidence to show he unlawfully opened fire after a personal conflict spilled into the street.

Police were sent to the 100 block of Saddle Horn Drive shortly before 9 p.m. after reports that around 10 shots had been fired. When officers arrived, they found Turrubiartez outside the residence with multiple gunshot wounds. Medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene. Investigators later said the shooting grew out of a domestic dispute involving Enriquez and the victim. According to an arrest affidavit, Enriquez came out onto the porch with his hands raised after officers called for people inside the house to come out. He quickly told police he had been defending his home. In the affidavit, officers said Enriquez told them Turrubiartez had threatened him and that he believed he had the right to use force.

As detectives began piecing together the hours before the shooting, the case took on more detail. A woman identified in court records as Enriquez’s ex-wife and Turrubiartez’s live-in girlfriend told investigators that Turrubiartez had seen a text exchange between her and Enriquez, became upset and left her residence. She said she tracked his phone and realized he appeared to be heading toward Enriquez’s house. Enriquez, meanwhile, told detectives he started receiving calls and text messages from Turrubiartez about plans to come over that night. Enriquez said he used a surveillance camera to watch Turrubiartez arrive in a Chrysler 300. He then went outside rather than staying inside the home. According to the warrant, Enriquez told investigators it was clear to him that Turrubiartez had arrived to start an altercation. He said the victim uttered an obscenity, and then Enriquez fired.

Investigators say the physical evidence will matter as much as those statements. Police said the victim was shot several times in the chest and abdomen and once in the head. The affidavit described the firearm as an “assault rifle,” and Enriquez allegedly told officers he went back inside after the shooting, unloaded the gun and put it on a couch. Search warrants were obtained for the house and for the victim’s vehicle, and officers said they collected the weapon and other evidence. Some facts remain unclear from the public record. Authorities have not publicly laid out whether Turrubiartez was armed, whether he got out of his vehicle before the shooting, how far apart the two men were when the shots were fired or whether surveillance footage captured the entire encounter. Those unanswered points are likely to become central as the case moves forward.

The newer court action gave prosecutors a stronger procedural footing than the initial arrest alone. The McLennan County District Attorney’s Office announced that a grand jury indicted Enriquez on one count of murder. Law enforcement records identify him as 50, while early local reporting listed a different age. He remains in the McLennan County Jail on $750,000 bond. The indictment does not decide guilt, but it means grand jurors found enough evidence to formally accuse him and send the case deeper into district court. A defense lawyer told local media he is reviewing discovery and looking forward to building Enriquez’s defense. In Texas, self-defense claims can shape every phase of a homicide case, from bond arguments and plea talks to jury instructions at trial. For prosecutors, the challenge will be to show that the shooting was not justified under the circumstances they can prove.

On Saddle Horn Drive, the case began as a burst of violence in a suburban block better known for driveways, porches and evening traffic than homicide investigations. Hewitt is a small city south of Waco, and police said after the shooting that they believed the danger was limited to the people involved and that there was no continuing threat to the public. A juvenile who was inside the home at the time was not hurt. That detail, though small in the file, added another layer to the scene officers stepped into that night: a personal dispute, a child in the house, a dead man outside and a suspect who was still at the property when police arrived. The emotional terrain of the case is likely to remain as important as the ballistics and timelines, because jurors may eventually be asked to sort fear, anger, prior contact and split-second decisions from after-the-fact explanations.

The case now stands at the indictment stage, with Enriquez jailed on bond and prosecutors expected to continue turning over evidence to the defense. The next milestone is a district court appearance in McLennan County, where motions, scheduling and any litigation over a self-defense theory will shape what comes next.

Author note: Last updated April 2, 2026.