Inset: Lydia Morales (Obituary). Background: David Grejtak appears in Bexar County, Texas, court (KSAT/YouTube).
A Texas man has learned where he will spend the coming decades of his life after shooting and killing his neighbor following an argument.
David Grejtak, 56, received a 30-year prison sentence on Friday, as announced by the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office. He was convicted in July for the murder of 44-year-old Lydia Morales in 2023.
On September 12, 2023, Morales welcomed her family to her San Antonio apartment. They were engaging in drinking and playing loud music, as testimony during the trial revealed, according to a report by the San Antonio Express-News.
During the evening, the family heard a noise from the apartment below—Grejtak’s unit. As they started to leave, some members did not exit the building before passing by the neighbor’s apartment.
The boyfriend of Morales’ daughter reportedly waited outside Grejtak’s door for his girlfriend to come downstairs, making a “gesture” towards the peephole. Grejtak emerged from his apartment with a gun, resulting in a “verbal altercation,” according to the DA’s office. Grejtak was allegedly upset about the noise from the neighboring apartment.
Grejtak reportedly fell to the ground while arguing with the boyfriend, as Morales and her daughter left the apartment. Morales interposed herself between Grejtak and her family members.
And this is when the shot was fired.
“All she can say is ‘what’s going on’ before the defendant shoots her,” a prosecutor stated at the trial, according to the newspaper. “He shoots her in the right side of her chest.”
A prosecutor detailed how Grejtak wasted next to no time before becoming violent.
“Mr. Grejtak had had enough of Ms. Morales not doing what he wanted her to do, which was be quiet,” Melissa Rust said at the recent trial, according to courtroom video from local ABC affiliate KSAT. “The video evidence is so clear that we’re talking about seconds from her coming down those stairs to being shot.”
The District Attorney’s Office noted how Grejtak claimed he shot the woman in self-defense, “alleging that he believed Morales intended to stab him.”
The case first went to trial in May but ended in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
Another trial began, and a new jury found Grejtak guilty in July, “stating that the evidence presented did not prove his actions were justified.”
“Though today’s sentencing is a painful reminder of an act of senseless violence, it proves that we will never waver in our fight for justice,” Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales said in a statement. “I would like to thank the jury for their diligent efforts in securing this conviction, and our team for their dedication in achieving a just decision that can bring some measure of closure to Lydia’s loved ones.”
