Authorities say Abel Elias Acosta, now 18, may be in Mexico and remains wanted in the 2021 shooting deaths of three teenagers.
GARLAND, TX — The FBI and Garland police said Wednesday that they have raised the reward to $70,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Abel Elias Acosta, the suspect in a 2021 convenience store shooting that killed three teenagers and wounded a fourth.
The increase marks the biggest public push in months in a case that has remained open since the night after Christmas in 2021. Federal officials added $50,000 to an existing local reward, while investigators said Acosta, now 18, has not been seen since the shootings. He is wanted in Dallas County on capital murder charges, and federal authorities have also filed an unlawful flight charge, turning a local homicide case into a broader interstate and international manhunt.
Police said the shooting happened on the evening of Dec. 26, 2021, at a Garland convenience store where several teenagers had gathered. Officers responding to reports of gunfire found four young people suffering from gunshot wounds. Three boys, ages 14, 16 and 17, died. A fourth victim was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries and survived. Investigators later identified the dead as Xavier Gonzalez, Ivan Noyola and Rafael Garcia. Surveillance video, which has figured heavily in public appeals and court proceedings, showed a person getting out of a pickup truck, firing inside the store within seconds and then running back to the same vehicle before it sped away. Garland Police Chief Jeff Bryan said Wednesday that the families still have not seen justice because Acosta remains at large.
Authorities have long said they believe Acosta was 14 when the attack happened and that he disappeared the same night. At Wednesday’s announcement, FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock said the bureau is offering up to $50,000 for information leading to Acosta’s arrest and conviction, bringing the total available reward to $70,000 when combined with Garland Crime Stoppers money already on the table. Rothrock said investigators believe Acosta has deep ties to the Garland area, but they also think he fled to Mexico shortly after the shootings and may still be there. In a public statement, Rothrock said law enforcement owes it to the Garland community and the victims’ relatives to do everything possible to bring the case to an end. Even with that renewed appeal, officials did not say Wednesday exactly where Acosta may be, who may be helping him, or whether they have recorded any confirmed sighting since late 2021.
The case has remained prominent in North Texas because of both the age of the suspect and the blunt violence captured on video. Prosecutors have described the attack as an ambush. Investigators have said Acosta entered the store and opened fire almost immediately, killing three teenagers and injuring another before escaping. The killings happened during the holiday season, deepening the shock in Garland and leaving relatives to mark birthdays, anniversaries and court dates without an arrest of the alleged gunman. In the years since, law enforcement agencies have repeatedly circulated Acosta’s photo and, more recently, an age-progressed image as he moved from mid-teens into adulthood. Federal wanted notices now describe him as armed and dangerous. Officials also have emphasized that this is no longer only an old local homicide file; it is an active fugitive case involving city police, county prosecutors and federal agents, with cross-border questions still unresolved.
Several legal steps have pushed the case forward even as the main suspect remains missing. Court records show Acosta now faces charges including capital murder of multiple persons and murder in Dallas County. An arrest warrant was issued by a Dallas County court on Dec. 17, 2025, and a separate federal arrest warrant followed on Jan. 26, 2026, after he was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in the Northern District of Texas. The federal filing gives agents another tool as they search for him and try to build pressure around any network that may be sheltering him. The case has already produced one conviction: Acosta’s father, Richard Acosta Jr., was found guilty of capital murder for his role as the driver of the pickup used in the shooting, and he is serving life in prison without parole. In February 2026, a Texas appeals court upheld that conviction, leaving the father’s sentence in place while the search for his son continued.
Wednesday’s announcement mixed procedural updates with the emotional weight that has followed the case for more than four years. Bryan said the shooting remains an open wound for the families, their friends and the broader Garland community. Rothrock struck a similar note, saying the community and the victims’ relatives are still owed justice. The officials did not announce any arrest, fresh forensic break or newly identified accomplice. Instead, the development was the reward increase itself, paired with a sharper public statement that agents believe Acosta may still be outside the United States. The renewed appeal also underscored how unusual the case has become: a suspect accused of carrying out a triple killing at age 14 is now the subject of both state murder charges and a federal fugitive warrant as he enters adulthood. For Garland, the case stands at the same difficult point it has for years: the deaths have been prosecuted in part, but the person accused of firing the shots has yet to appear in court.
As of Wednesday, Acosta remained a wanted fugitive, the reward stood at $70,000, and investigators were still publicly saying they believe he may be in Mexico. The next milestone is his arrest, which would allow the long-delayed murder case against him in Dallas County to move into court.
Author note: Last updated April 9, 2026.