A man solicited an undercover Texas Department of Public Safety special agent to shoot a woman, according to an arrest affidavit.
A DPS agent on Friday charged 48-year-old Michael Anthony Cruz with criminal solicitation of murder, a second-degree felony.
Cruz called an undercover DPS agent on Feb. 18 and again Feb. 20 requesting to meet with him, the affidavit said. It said the agent agreed to meet him at the Capital Plaza Shopping Center in East Austin at 8 p.m. on Feb. 20.
The document did not say how Cruz and the undercover agent were acquainted.
Upon meeting, the affidavit said, Cruz explained he wanted the agent to shoot a woman in the back for $1,500. It said Cruz claimed the woman had “changed addresses to get away from (Cruz).”
It said two additional special DPS agents were watching and listening to their conversation through a bug on the undercover agent.
According to the document, Cruz first told the agent he wanted to badly hurt ― but not kill ― the woman, and instructed him to shoot her in the spine to paralyze her using .22 caliber bullets.
It said Cruz told the agent he had known the woman for seven months and they had been flirtatious, but he “didn’t get there,” which the agent interpreted to mean they had not developed a romantic relationship.
Cruz told the agent the woman went to a clothing store every morning, the affidavit said, and suggested different ways the agent could shoot her there, including making it look like an armed robbery.
When the undercover agent asked what Cruz would do if the agent was not able to shoot the woman, Cruz said he might shoot her himself while driving on a highway at night, according to the document. It said Cruz said he planned to do it that way, but he needed to get a different car.
When the agent pointed out that shooting her on a highway might cause her to crash and die, Cruz agreed and said he hoped it would look like an accident because he would wait until no one was around, according to the affidavit.
It said Cruz then arranged to meet with the undercover agent again at 9 a.m. Wednesday so they could drive together to the clothing store and he could identify the woman to the agent.
They left the store around 9:30 a.m. because the woman had not been seen, but Cruz said he may come back alone, the affidavit said. On the way back to the Target at Capital Plaza where they had met up, it said, Cruz mentioned he was a good shot and that he may shoot her himself if he had a rifle with a scope.
Around 10 a.m., three DPS officials observed Cruz returning to the shopping center where the woman’s clothing store was located and arrested him.
Cruz was booked into the Travis County Jail on Friday and remains there as of Saturday. His bail is set at $100,000.
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