Documents: TCSO arrests Buffalo Gap couple wanted for Aggravated Assault, charges rack up $2 million in bonds

TAYLOR COUNTY, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office’s (TCSO) Criminal Investigation Department and Patrol Divisions pulled over a driver in Buffalo Gap who happened to have a warrant for his arrest and a $1.5 million bond.

In a press release from the TCSO, police said Joe Alton Fernandez Jr. was stopped in Buffalo Gap. Fernandez had a warrant for his arrest in relation to an Aggravated Assault charge with and a $1.5 million bond. Passenger Courtney Lindsey, Fernandez’s girlfriend, also had a warrant for her arrest in connection to an Aggravated Assault charge with a $500,000 bond.

Officers booked the couple into the Taylor County Jail Thursday.

What happened to lead to a collective $2 million bond and arrest warrant?

The following information is all according to Taylor County Court documents. BigCountryHomepage.com makes no accusations.

Overnight September 28 into the early hours of Sep. 29, 2023, Joe Alton Fernandez Jr. was accused of threatening an 18-year-old woman “with imminent bodily injury by shooting her and did then and there use or exhibit a deadly weapon, namely FIREARM, during the commission of the assault,” a document read.

BigCountryHomepage.com will not be identifying this victim publicly.

Officers responded to an injured subject call at the Riviera Apartments on North 6th Street early Friday morning, September 29. Those officers spoke with a young woman who told them she had been shot in the arm. Police reported observing the 18-year-old with an entry wound and no exit wound.

Victim statement

The victim told police she and four friends left the apartment in her around 2:00 Friday morning in her minivan to get something to eat when she noticed a pickup truck following them from Abilene Teacher’s Federal Credit Union to North 1st Street before they fired shots at her car.

On the third trigger pull, the victim said she was shot in her arm. She eventually stopped the vehicle and her front seat passenger, Dreadarius “Ham” McElroy, got out and ran off. He would later be arrested.

As shots continued to fire at the minivan from the rear, the back passengers ducked to evade bullets. When the gunfire stopped, a passenger said she climbed into the front passenger seat to help the victim steer the vehicle and get back to their apartment. There, police were called.

When APD arrived at the apartment complex, they checked out the victim’s minivan for additional evidence. They reported finding three bullet holes in the interior and a broken back windshield. Upon further investigation, shell casings were discovered in the 1500 block of North 1st Street, where the victim said she was shot.

Follow up interview: October 31, 2023

A month after a young woman was shot, police spoke with two of the passengers in her vehicle that night. Detectives learned that the two were involved in a traffic stop at around 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sep. 28, 2023 – about four hours before the reported shooting. The two young women told police they were with a young man known as “Jo Jo,” who was arrested.

According to another arrest report, Jo Jo was arrested at around 10:30 p.m. that night. He was “found to be a runaway and was arrested for possession of a stolen firearm and unlawful carrying of a weapon.” Jo Jo’s parent was identified as Joe Alton Fernandez Jr. He and his girlfriend, Courtney Lindsey, were called to the stop when another minor was released into their custody at the request of the minor’s guardian.

Getting back to the follow up interview last Halloween, the two passengers of the victim’s vehicle allegedly told police Fernandez was angry about his son’s arrest. So, he followed the young ladies back to the North Abilene apartment complex where he confronted them about how his son got ahold of a firearm.

An argument ensued and the victim’s original front seat passenger, McElroy, emerged from an apartment unit to argue further. After a while, Fernandez returned to his vehicle.

From this account, investigators used warrants to place Fernandez’s AT&T phone’s GPS at the bank, where the victim said a vehicle began following her. She described the vehicle as a pickup truck with a black grill guard and dent along its passenger side. This description matched that of Fernandez’s work vehicle involved in a car wreck last May.

Witness statement: January 11, 2024

A couple more months would pass before a witness told police she had some information from the September 28-29 events.

BigCountryHomepage.com will also not be releasing her identity to the public.

According to the witness, Lindsey called to tell her about Fernandez’s son, Jo Jo’s, arrest. She continued on to tell her that when Fernandez confronted his friends about the young man having a gun, McElroy allegedly pointed a gun at Fernandez.

At this point, the young woman told police she left work and went to the Riviera Apartments, where she saw Fernandez chasing McElroy. Fernandez then went back to his vehicle with a handgun.

Lindsey, the witness, and Fernandez left the apartment complex in Fernandez’s work pickup. With Fernandez in the back and the witness in the passenger seat, Lindsey drove around the block before parking at Abilene Teacher’s Federal Credit Union, just across the street from the apartment.

Purportedly, Fernandez wanted to wait so that he could confront McElroy for pointing a gun at him.

After some time passed, a group of young men and women were seen loading up into a minivan and leave the apartment’s parking lot. Lindsey, in the driver’s side of the pickup, followed.

When they got behind the minivan, the witness told APD Lindsey accelerated, hitting the back of the other vehicle about six times before Fernandez asked for his window to be unlocked. Fernandez then rolled the window down, pointed a handgun out the window, and fired multiple shots at the vehicle, paused, then fire one additional shot before the victim’s vehicle stopped.

Medical examination of the gunshot victim

A Hendrick Medical Center Doctor told police the victim’s injuries “created a substantial risk of death and protracted use of her right arm.”

Police concluded the report by saying Fernandez’s act of firing multiple shots into the vehicle amounted to the threat of serious bodily injury with the use of a deadly weapon. Lindsey’s acts of ramming the victim’s vehicle and assisting her partner in discharging his firearm at the vehicle amounted to threatening serious bodily injury with the use of a deadly weapon.

This led to Joe Alton Fernandez Jr.’s charge of second-degree felony Aggravated Assault with a $1.5 million bond, and Courtney Lindsey’s second-degree felony Aggravated Assault with a $500,000 million bond.

All information above is according to Taylor County Court documents. BigCountryHomepage.com makes no accusations.

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