3 Austin Men Charged in Home Invasion Shooting

Two masked men forced their way into an Austin home Monday morning, shot the resident in the back and fled in a black Dodge Charger driven by a third man, according to charges filed in Mower County District Court.

Izaiah Frank Fuentes, 20, Joe Lewis Castaneda III, 25, and Alex Matthew Perry, 25, all of Austin, were charged Wednesday in connection with the break-in and shooting.

Fuentes and Castaneda each face three counts of 1st-degree burglary, 2nd-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and fleeing a peace officer. Fuentes is additionally charged with two counts of possessing a firearm as a violent felon and escape from custody, while Castaneda faces two counts of possessing a firearm or ammunition after a conviction for a crime of violence. Perry is charged with four counts of aiding and abetting, three for 1st-degree burglary and one for 2nd-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.

Officers responded at about 9:16 a.m. on August 3 to a report of a possible shooting at a residence in the 500 block of 13th Avenue SE, according to the complaint. A witness saw a black Dodge Charger pull up to the home and watched two men get out, cinch their hoods tight to hide their faces and go inside. The witness heard a gunshot and screams before the two ran back to the car, which a third man drove away.

An Austin police officer spotted the Charger nearby and stopped it in the 1300 block of 8th Street SE. The driver, later identified as Perry, complied with commands and put his hands outside the vehicle. Castaneda fled on foot from the rear passenger seat, and seconds later Fuentes ran from the front passenger seat, jumped a chain-link fence and cut through back yards.

The officer found an AR-15 style pistol sticking out of a backpack directly behind the driver’s seat, loaded with a full magazine and a round in the chamber, and a single round of 9mm ammunition on the back seat where Castaneda had been sitting. Officers arrested Perry and took him to the Mower County Jail. Another officer caught Castaneda as he ran toward railroad tracks, where he stopped, put his hands up and was arrested.

At the home, officers met a man who said his friend, the resident, had called to say he had been shot. The man had keys to the residence and let officers inside, where they found a spent 9mm shell casing on the kitchen floor. No one was inside.

Investigators then learned a gunshot victim was at the Mayo Clinic emergency room. The victim told a detective he woke to his dog barking, went to the door to check and had a gun drawn on him. He said he leaned forward to push the man out of his home and heard a boom. The bullet entered and exited through his back, and he was treated at the hospital. His brother drove him there after getting a call that he had been shot.

The victim said he did not know the men because they were masked and he was half asleep. He told the detective he was concerned about being labeled “a snitch” and said he has to live in the area for the rest of his life.

Fuentes remained on the run for more than two hours. A Special Incident Response Team was activated and a shelter-in-place notification went out for the surrounding area. Corrections officials told police Fuentes was on parole for 2nd-degree assault, and his GPS ankle monitor was pinging near the scene. Officials said it appeared Fuentes was actively trying to remove the monitor, and officers later found the bracelet near a swimming pool behind a home on the same block. At about 11:52 a.m., team members found Fuentes wrapped in a tarp inside a backyard shed and arrested him.

A search of the Charger under a warrant turned up a brown and gold Glock 19 9mm handgun under the passenger seat, fitted with an extended magazine holding eight rounds. Investigators determined the round found on the back seat matched the casing from the victim’s kitchen, and they seized three cell phones from the car.

Perry agreed to speak with a detective after his arrest. He said he lives with Fuentes, who asked him for a ride to a person’s house, and that he believed Fuentes was on parole with a day pass. Perry said he saw Fuentes with a brown handgun and watched Fuentes and Castaneda walk up to the home. About two minutes later, Fuentes came back to the car, and Castaneda emerged from behind the house after Perry honked the horn.

Perry told the detective that Fuentes said to Castaneda, “You didn’t have to shoot him,” or something similar, and later, “I don’t think you shot him,” to which Castaneda replied, “I don’t know” or “I don’t think I did.” When police stopped the car, Perry said, the other two wanted him to run, but he refused and pulled over. He said Fuentes told him he could take the gun charge before the two fled.

Fuentes and Castaneda both declined to speak with investigators. According to the complaint, Fuentes has prior Mower County convictions for threats of violence and 2nd-degree assault, and Castaneda is prohibited from possessing firearms because of a prior conviction for a crime of violence.

The charges were filed Wednesday in Mower County District Court. Court dates have not yet been set.

About This Charge

Minnesota classifies assault by degree under § 609.221 (first), § 609.222 (second), § 609.223 (third), § 609.2231 (fourth) and § 609.224 (fifth). First-degree assault, alleging great bodily harm, carries up to 20 years in prison. The lower degrees range from gross-misdemeanor up to 10-year felony exposure depending on weapon use and harm.