Teens arrested after passenger shot in car, gun tossed

WESLACO, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Weslaco police arrested two teens, who they say shot a man and threw the weapon near a canal bank.

Joseph Antonio Baltazar, 17, was charged with aggravated assault with deadly weapon, and Manuel Chavez Rodriguez was charged with tampering with evidence.

On Thursday, police arrived to the South Texas Health Systems Emergency Room in reference to an 18-year-old who was shot and in critical condition.

According to police, the teen and several friends were in a car that was driving around the 100 block of East I-2 frontage road.

Police say one of the other passengers had a handgun and was handling it unsafely. The gun went off and hit the teen in the back.

Police later identified the passenger as Baltazar and they say confessed he was sitting on the rear right passenger seat when he the gun discharged.