Two men accused of capital murder in a double shooting that also injured a juvenile in October 2022 have been cleared of all charges, that's according to Kennedale Police who also say they have three other men in custody who are responsible for the crime.
On Nov. 18, 2022, Kennedale Police announced the Nov. 17 arrests of 21-year-old Xavier Aguilar and 20-year-old Sonny Ayala and said both men were facing multiple charges, including capital murder, related to the death of 18-year-old Hayden Scarlato.
Scarlato was fatally shot on Oct. 26, 2022, while parked at a car wash on the 6300 block of Treepoint Drive with an unnamed juvenile. The minor, whose identity has not been released, survived the shooting but their condition is not known.
Kennedale Police said on Tuesday that Aguilar and Ayala have now been cleared of any charges, though they did not reveal any further information about what led investigators to initially charge the men with murder, aggravated assault and engaging in organized crime, or what led them to now clear them both of those same charges.
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Officials investigating Scarlato's slaying have also not shared a motive for the double shooting.
In a statement released Tuesday, Kennedale Chief of Police Mike Holguin identified three other men he said are now in custody in connection with Scarlato's murder.
According to Holguin, Nicolas Luebano was arrested on Nov. 9, 2022, and Kristopher Luebano was arrested on Nov. 15, 2022. Both men were arrested in Ellis County, police said, and were accused of capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the Scarlato case.
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Those arrests apparently took place days before the Nov.17 arrests of Ayala and Aguilar but were not shared publicly until now.
Holguin said in his statement Tuesday that when the Luebanos were arrested there was also an outstanding warrant for 19-year-old Emmanuel Bear, also related to the Scarlato homicide, and that his department learned on Dec. 31, 2022, that the U.S. Marshals Service had apprehended Bear in Allen.
Kennedale Police told NBC 5 that the arrests from early November were not announced at that time because they didn't want to make them public before apprehending Bear.
"Because of the ongoing investigation, we were not able to release the arrest of Kristopher and Nick Luebano in November until Bear was apprehended," Kennedale Police said.
In their statement Tuesday, Kennedale Police said they received assistance in the homicide investigation from the Grand Prairie Police Department, the Mansfield Police Department, the Arlington Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF), the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office.
