Daniel Hernandez Jr. Gets 30 Years in Prison for Murdering Ricky De Los Santos, 18, During a Shoe Sale on Loop 1604
A 227th District Court judge sentenced Daniel Hernandez Jr., 20, to 30 years in prison for the April 2024 murder of Ricky De Los Santos, 18, who named his shooter to deputies before he died.
Daniel Hernandez Jr., 20, will spend 30 years in prison for shooting his lifelong friend during a shoe deal, the Bexar County District Attorney's Office announced on Monday, Oct. 26, in a report read in full by the Local News Desk this cycle. Judge Christine Del Prado handed down the sentence in the 227th District Court on the murder charge. Hernandez was 18 at the time of the shooting.
The victim, Ricky De Los Santos, 18, was selling a pair of tennis shoes in April 2024 when Hernandez came to buy them, prosecutors said. The meeting was in the 2000 block of South Loop 1604 East, and court records say Hernandez shot De Los Santos with an AK-47-style rifle. Deputies who reached De Los Santos while he was still alive heard him name Hernandez as the shooter; he died later that night, and prosecutors said those words gave investigators the key facts that led to the arrest.
The two had known each other since they were kids — investigators described them as best friends, a point Sheriff Javier Salazar also made, according to the report. Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Gorham led the case for the state, assisted by Becky Garza and Bruce Hallonquist.
'While no sentence can undo the loss of a life, this outcome holds the defendant accountable for the violence that took Ricky De Los Santos from his loved ones,' District Attorney Joe D. Gonzales said in the statement carried in the report, adding that the office is grateful De Los Santos could name his attacker. A second case tied to this shooting is separate and is not part of this sentence.
