SAN ANTONIO – The Selma Police Department announced a second arrest in connection with the April 2023 murder of University of the Incarnate Word nursing student Joseph Banales.
Matthew Kirk Alexander, 33, has been charged with murder, according to Selma police.
An arrest warrant affidavit states that Alexander was racing another suspect in the case, 29-year-old Jacob Daniel Serna, on Interstate 35 in Selma when Alexander shot Banales.
Alexander claimed he opened fire in self-defense “due to the way Joseph Banales was driving,” the affidavit states.
Investigators discovered that Alexander and Serna knew each other from car clubs and were racing on the highway. A witness told police that Alexander shot Banales when Banales merged into his lane.
Banales crashed his car in the median. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Alexander did not stop, the affidavit states. Serna, who had a passenger in his car, turned around and went to the crash.
The passenger in Serna’s car initially told police that Serna “sped up to get a better look” at Alexander’s car. Serna and the passenger did not indicate they knew Alexander or were racing him, the affidavit states.
During an interview last month, the passenger provided police with a variation of Alexander’s license plate and described his vehicle as a “blue Z-car” — which was new information from the witness, investigators said.
Police tracked the model of the car and its license plate to Alexander.
During an interview on Oct. 7, Alexander admitted to shooting Banales and knowing Serna, police said.
The affidavit stated that Alexander admitted contacting Serna after the incident and asking if he was “OK.”
He also turned in the weapon used in the shooting, police said. A lab analysis confirmed the weapon was connected to Banales’ death, the affidavit states.
Investigators found Alexander’s statements were not consistent with self-defense, the affidavit states.
Serna, who was originally charged with murder in Banales’ death, had his charges downgraded to serious bodily injury or death due to racing.
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