Man pleads guilty in bizarre Euless murder involving tattoos, prosecutors say
A suspect charged in the 2021 shooting of an Arlington man pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 50 years in prison, Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells announced in a social media post Wednesday.
The suspect forcibly tattooed his girlfriend’s name on the victim’s neck before shooting him, prosecutors said.
Benjamin Delgadillo, 24, was one of four suspects charged in the Feb. 2021 killing of 22-year-old Younis Alhassinyani.
At his girlfriend’s apartment on the morning of Feb. 2, 2021, one of Alhassinyani’s tattoos was defaced and he was forced to have his girlfriend’s name tattooed on him, according to police. He left the apartment with four men who had guns and his body was found dead two days later in a drainage creek near Texas 360 in Euless.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Alhassinyani’s girlfriend, Erika Perez, was upset with him after finding out he had taken pictures of her credit cards and discovered he was seeing other women.
Known drug dealers had also become upset with Alhassinyani, the affidavit stated.
At around 1 a.m. on Feb. 2, Alhassinyani called his mother and asked for a ride home from Perez’s apartment in Arlington, where he spent most of his time, the affidavit said.
A relative was sent to pick him up, but Alhassinyani never provided an address.
Days after, Alhassinyani’s relatives repeatedly went to Perez’s apartment, trying to find him. Perez told them he had left her apartment at 1 a.m. on Feb. 2
No one saw him after that, the affidavit said.
Perez later told Arlington police that she was being harassed and threatened by Alhassinyani’s family as they tried to find him.
Detectives learned that on the night of Feb. 1, Perez posted a video on Facebook Live, inviting people to come over to her apartment for an all-night tattoo session.
At some point that night, a tattoo artist who was at Perez’s apartment told detectives he was giving a tattoo to a man when Perez got into an argument with Alhassinyani after she found her personal information on his phone, according to the affidavit.
In the video, a tattoo artist appeared to be trying to shade the word “Side” on Alhassinyani’s back. He had the words “South Side” tattooed on his back and the Arlington city logo across his shoulder blades.
Within seconds, another person — identified as Delgadillo — grabbed the tattoo gun and started defacing Alhassinyani’s tattoo, according to KXAS-TV.
“Do it little softer,” Alhassinyani said, according to the warrant, and the tattoo artist added, “He said to do it a little softer, what the hell.” But Delgadillo didn’t, according to the video. The tattoo artist then grabbed the tattoo gun back and wrote “Erika” on Alhassinyani’s neck.
Four gunmen then forced Alhassinyani into a vehicle and drove to Euless, according to KXAS.
Before taking him, Alhassinyani asked them, “Can I just call my mother to take me home?”
They said no and told him, “We will take you home,” according to the affidavit.
Initially, Alhassinyani refused to get out of the car, but he got out and was shot, KXAS reported.
Justin Jax Salinas and Pedro Angel Ramirez were also arrested and charged with capital murder in the shooting of Alhassinyani. Perez was arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping, making a false report, failing to report a felony and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. It is unclear if their cases are active.
