CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A 27-year-old man has been charged with the murder of 53-year-old Sergio Del Alto, who was shot inside of a Stripes store in Corpus Christi's southside last week.
3News recently reported that Del Alto was shot last Monday as officers arrived at the Stripes store on Staples Street and Yorktown Boulevard around 5:40 a.m. and found Del Alto dead inside the store, according to Lt. Michael Pena with the Corpus Christi Police Department.
Pena said an argument between the two patrons escalated, leading to the gunfire.
27-year-old murder suspect Anthony Whetstone was arrested by police last Monday in the Sam's Club parking lot. Investigators had spent hours trying to track him down for the killing of Del Alto.
"They found that there was a verbal disturbance between two patrons to customers, or one of the patrons customers discharged a weapon," Pena said.
Edna De La Garza Del Alto spoke with 3News about how she and her common-law husband Sergio ended up at that Stripes store at 5:30 a.m. It was the last time they'd ever be together.
"We were going to go to a friend's house before that," Edna said. "We just said let's go in here first, the truck doesn't sound good. It needs transmission fluid and I've got to change the belt too. So, let's go do this first and then we can stop over there."
Edna said they had met four years ago right after Sergio was released from prison after serving 25 years behind bars. She said when they decided to stop at the Stripes store she stayed outside in their truck. She took a quick nap and never heard any gunshots. She didn't know Sergio was dead until police told her what had happened.
"I want justice for Sergio, you know. I want justice for him, for once," Edna said. "I want to make sure that justice is served."
Edna says Sergio was a great husband and was someone everyone wanted to be around.
"It's quiet now. He was the life of the party, you know," Edna said. "He could make you laugh, funny in special expressions -- he had the funniest facial expressions. He could've been an actor."
Edna also told 3News that she doesn't know what the verbal confrontation was over that led to her husband's murder; but what she does know is that she's having to bury the love of her life this Friday at Seaside Memorial Park.
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