Inset (from left to right): Elian Araujo, Hugo Carlin, and Misael Jiminez (McLennan County Sheriff”s Office). Background: The intersection of Franklin Ave & South 5th Street in Waco, Texas, where the men were arrested (Google Maps).
A Texas man stands accused of plotting to kill the mother of his child’s new partner, allegedly seeking assistance from friends for transportation to confront his target.
Nineteen-year-old Hugo Carlin faces charges of soliciting murder, according to records from the McLennan County Jail. He was taken into custody on Wednesday and is currently detained on a $250,000 bail.
Authorities report Carlin harbored intentions to commit murder but faced the obstacle of needing transportation to reach his intended victim.
“I need gas money, bro,” Carlin reportedly texted 22-year-old Elian Araujo, as detailed in an arrest affidavit obtained by local CBS affiliate KWTX.
Another message allegedly contained a warning that Carlin intended to “smoke” the victim, underscoring the seriousness of his threat.
On September 15, Araujo reportedly picked up Carlin and three others, including 21-year-old Misael Jiminez, in his vehicle. As they traveled through Waco, an officer stopped the car near the intersection of Franklin Avenue and South 5th Street for an alleged traffic infraction, police said.
When the officer peered inside, he saw five firearms between three people in the backseat. One minor had two guns tucked into his waistband, the affidavit says. Carlin himself had a semiautomatic rifle with “an extremely high capacity of very deadly ammunition,” according to the charging document.
Additional law enforcement officers arrived to help arrest the suspects, with one of them reportedly telling investigators Carlin “had been talking about going to confront his child’s mother’s new boyfriend.”
Court records show that Araujo and Jiminez have both been charged with criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. They are also being held on $250,000 bail.
Police alleged in the affidavit that the text thread between Carlin and Araujo “supports the story given by parties at the time of the traffic stop that Hugo Carlin was looking for a ride or gas money, and that [Araujo] then picked up Carlin and [the others] to assist [Carlin] in the commission of the criminal offense of murder and/or aggravated assault.”
One of the men in the vehicle was not charged after cooperating with law enforcement, the local TV station reported.
