Thread: MS-13 gang member deported 7x in custody after fatal stabbing | Julian Salas Lopez

MS-13 gang member deported 7 times in custody after fatal stabbing in Colony Ridge

https://bluebonnetnews.com/2025/02/2...-colony-ridge/

Bybbnewseditor

February 24, 2025



Luis Miguel Perez is pictured shortly after his arrest near Dayton Monday night, Feb. 24.

Luis Miguel Perez, 34, a confirmed MS-13 gang member and El Salvador national who has been deported from the United States seven times, is now in custody following a seven-hour manhunt that began Monday afternoon, Feb. 24, on CR 5740 in the Colony Ridge communities south of Plum Grove.

According to Capt. David Meyers of the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, the incident began when Perez and his father-in-law, Julian Salas Lopez, got into a verbal dispute that turned physical. During the fight, Perez allegedly pulled out a knife and fatally stabbed Lopez.

After the stabbing, Perez fled into a nearby wooded area, prompting a large-scale manhunt.
Law enforcement agencies deployed drones and K-9 officers to track him, and a DPS helicopter was expected to assist from the air.

Authorities warned residents in the area to remain vigilant while the search was underway, as Perez was believed to be hiding somewhere nearby.

TIP FROM LOCAL RESIDENT LEADS TO ARREST
Perez’s attempt to evade authorities ended shortly before 10 p.m. when he was apprehended at a property off CR 2340 in the Dayton Oaks Subdivision, just three miles north of the prisons in Dayton.

According to Meyers, a woman reported a suspicious man in her driveway asking for drinks and a ride.

“She gave him some Gatorade and a Coke. Then she told him to go to another house up the road where the family spoke Spanish. While he was heading that way, she called 911 to report him as a suspicious person. That’s when she found out he was a murder suspect,” Meyers said.

Photo available through a cooperative share with the Montgomery County Police Reporter

Authorities quickly responded, converging on a trailer down the road from the woman’s house, where they spotted Perez inside a family’s home. The family was safely evacuated, and members of the Liberty County Special Response Team moved in, taking Perez into custody without incident.

Perez has been charged with murder and is being held in the Liberty County Jail on a $5 million bond. A motive for the stabbing is still unknown as Perez is currently not cooperating with the investigation.

Additionally, a reward for information leading to his arrest had been offered through the Multi-County Crime Stoppers organization. Anyone with further details about this case can still contact the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office at 936-336-4500 or Crime Stoppers at 800-392-STOP (7867). Tips can also be submitted online at www.multicrimestoppers.org or p3tips.com.
Crime Stoppers pays cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of any felony offender, and tipsters remain anonymous, as guaranteed by state law.