AUSTIN, Texas — A man who was arrested and charged with capital murder last year has now been charged with three felonies in Hays County.
Jail records indicate that 19-year-old Ervin Coronado-Palacio was arrested on July 17 and now faces two charges of sexual assault of a child and one charge of trafficking a person to engage in sexual conduct. All three charges are second-degree felonies.
Coronado-Palacio was free after bonding out in Travis County, where he had been held on murder charges stemming from a May 2023 incident in southeast Austin where a 30-year-old man was shot multiple times and died.
In the early morning hours of May 15, 2023, the Austin Police Department (APD) received a call that a man had been shot to death inside a white Cadillac. The victim was identified as Brian Serrano.
Coronado-Palacio, who was 17 years old at the time, was in a stolen brown Kia Forte and was one of a number of suspects to exit the vehicle. One of the suspects was masked and armed, which led to Serrano's passenger believing that they were being robbed. When the two attempted to leave the scene, gunfire erupted, killing Serrano and injuring the passenger.
Through investigation, witness remarks and interrogation, APD investigators determined that Coronado-Palacio was in the vehicle, with one witness claiming that they saw him shoot Serrano "30 times" with an AR-15.
Coronado-Palacio was initially charged with first-degree capital murder before having his charges reduced to first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Coronado-Palacio is scheduled to have a hearing in Travis County court on Aug. 14. It is unclear when he will appear in Hays County court.