A 20-year-old U.S. Marine was arrested Tuesday morning by the U.S. Marshals Service in Arizona and charged with murder in connection to the New Year’s Day shooting death of a 20-year-old University of North Texas student during a traffic incident, according to police.
The Denton Police Department obtained an arrest warrant for Cpl. Eric Jamal Johnson, 20, who allegedly shot and killed Sara Mutschlechner following a dispute between two people in different vehicles at a red light.
Johnson was arrested in Yuma, Arizona on a charge of murder. Johnson is an active U.S. Marine connected to Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, a spokesman for the base confirmed Tuesday.
The Denton Police Department will hold a press conference Tuesday afternoon to provide more details.
Mutschlechner was an alumna of San Marcos High School and a former resident of Martindale, a small town just outside San Marcos.
Police and emergency personnel responded at about 2:06 a.m. Friday in the 1700 block of North Elm Street in Denton for a gunshot victim.
The officers found Mutschlechner lying on the ground outside of a four-door sedan that had crashed into an electrical pole.
Witnesses told police Mutschlechner was a designated driver and had not been drinking that night.
Three other adults were inside her vehicle at the time of the incident, which occurred when a dark-colored SUV, a Toyota or Lexus, drove up next to the sedan, police said.
Words were exchanged between occupants of the two vehicles, after which Johnson allegedly fired several rounds toward Mutschlechner, hitting her in the head. The victim’s vehicle then ran into another vehicle before crashing into an electrical pole, according to police.
The dark-colored SUV involved in the shooting fled the scene. Witnesses said the vehicle was occupied by five or six men. Police have said at least two of the men attended a New Year’s Eve party earlier that morning that Mutschlechner had been at, as well.
Another passenger in the vehicle suffered minor injuries from the crash and was taken to Denton Regional Medical Center along with Mutschlechner, who was in critical condition at the time of the crash.
She was placed on life support at the hospital, but was ultimately taken off and pronounced dead at the hospital.