GEORGETOWN, Texas (AP) — A man suspected in a pair of Dallas-area killings was arrested Tuesday at an apartment about 150 miles to the south near Austin, police said.
Silvestre Franco-Luviano was arrested about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday after a standoff at an apartment in Georgetown, about 25 miles north of Austin, said Georgetown Police Chief Wayne Nero.
He had been sought in the shooting deaths late Sunday of Ruben Moreno in his car in southeastern Dallas and of Welton Betts at a gas station in the Dallas suburb of Cedar Hill. Dallas police had issued a murder warrant for Franco-Luviano in the Moreno killing, and Dallas police spokeswoman Melinda Gutierrez said he was suspected in the Betts death.
A friend of Betts tells The Dallas Morning News that he was killed while returning from attending a Dallas Cowboys game.
Police also suspected Franco-Luviano in the abduction and robbery of a man doing landscaping work in Georgetown on Monday.
A tip led Georgetown police about 5 p.m. Tuesday to an apartment where relatives of Franco-Luviano live, Nero said. As tactical squad officers surrounded the apartment and nearby units were evacuated, a small fire broke out inside that officers believe the suspect set. Franco-Luviano also broke down a wall to slip into an adjacent, evacuated apartment, Nero said. He then tried to escape on foot, unarmed, but he was tackled and subdued by tactical squad officers, the chief said.
Franco-Luviano was unarmed when he was captured but a weapon was found inside the apartment, Nero said.