Authorities say one 18-year-old was killed, another was badly hurt, and two suspects remain at large after a late-night shooting in rural North Texas.
KAUFMAN, TX — Federal and local officers are searching for 18-year-old Diego Rodriguez after a late-night shooting in Kaufman County left one teen dead and another critically injured, turning a rural homicide case into a multiagency manhunt that now includes the U.S. Marshals Service and Texas Rangers.
The search matters now because investigators have publicly identified Rodriguez as wanted on a capital murder charge while saying a second suspect also remains unaccounted for. The case has shaken families in Kaufman County, where deputies say two 18-year-olds were found shot on a county road, one later dying from his injuries. With arrest warrants issued and no arrests announced, the immediate stakes are both public safety and a fast-moving effort to pin down who fired the shots, who drove away, and whether either suspect has left the area.
Deputies were called about 10 p.m. March 26 to the area of County Road 103, near County Roads 101 and 103 in Kaufman County, after one of the wounded teens managed to call 911 for help. When officers arrived, they found Kace Dean Leatherwood, 18, and Luis Velez, 18, suffering from gunshot wounds. Leatherwood later died. Velez survived the attack, though authorities have not publicly detailed his condition in recent updates. Investigators say the attack quickly widened beyond a roadside shooting. NBC 5 reported that Rodriguez and an unidentified second person are accused of firing more than 30 shots, then taking the victims’ truck and running over one of the victims with it. The U.S. Marshals Service later issued a public notice saying Rodriguez was wanted in connection with a homicide that occurred March 27 in Kaufman, a date that appears to reflect the point at which the case moved into the charging stage after the overnight violence.
Officials have released only part of the picture. The U.S. Marshals named Rodriguez on April 2 and described him as 5 feet 4 inches tall, about 130 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. The federal notice said the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office had issued multiple warrants for his arrest and warned that he should be considered armed and dangerous. The sheriff’s office has said no arrests have been made and that both suspects remain at large. One major unanswered question is the identity of the second person investigators say was involved. Another is motive. Authorities have not publicly said what led to the shooting, whether the victims knew the suspects before the gunfire, or where the stolen truck may have gone after the attack. Local reporting has also noted uncertainty about whether Rodriguez may still have access to the truck and whether investigators believe he could have left the country. For now, those questions remain open as officers continue to sort witness accounts, medical evidence and the timeline of the shooting.
The case has unfolded in a part of North Texas where violent crime on isolated county roads can be hard to reconstruct quickly, especially when investigators are working from a 911 call placed by an injured victim. That has made the physical setting important: long stretches of rural roadway, scattered homes and limited immediate surveillance compared with a city block or commercial strip. The deaths and injuries also hit a particularly painful note because all of the known people at the center of the case are 18 years old. Leatherwood’s family publicly confirmed his death in the days after the shooting, while community members began planning memorial events in his honor. CBS Texas reported that a candlelight vigil for Leatherwood was scheduled for April 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Rockwall and Brin Church of Christ in Terrell, with funeral services set for April 11. That community response has unfolded alongside the official search, giving the case two tracks at once: a homicide investigation still missing key public details and a grieving family trying to mark the life of a teenager killed before any arrest was made.
Procedurally, the investigation has already expanded well beyond a single county agency. The Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office has said it enlisted the Texas Rangers and the U.S. Marshals Service after issuing warrants for Rodriguez. The Marshals’ North Texas Fugitive Task Force then made the case public with a wanted notice asking for help locating him. That shift is significant because it places the search in the hands of officers who routinely track fugitives across county and state lines. The next formal milestone is Rodriguez’s arrest and initial court appearance, where the warrant allegations would be read in open court and prosecutors could begin outlining the charge in more detail. As of Monday, no such hearing had been announced because Rodriguez had not been captured. Officials also have not said whether the unnamed second suspect faces the same charge, a different homicide-related allegation, or charges that are still being prepared. Until both suspects are identified or arrested, the public record is likely to move in pieces through wanted notices, booking records and later court filings rather than a single full narrative from investigators.
For families and neighbors, the story has become more than a case file. It is a killing tied to names they know, roads they drive and a night that still has gaps. Leatherwood’s death has been described in local reports through family tributes as well as law enforcement bulletins, a reminder that even sparse official statements land inside a much larger circle of loss. At the same time, the public warnings have been blunt. Federal authorities said Rodriguez should not be approached, and local officers have treated the search as urgent. That combination of grief and uncertainty has left the county waiting for two developments at once: news of an arrest and a clearer explanation of what happened on the road that night. Until then, the strongest public facts remain the simplest ones: two teens were shot, one died, one survived, and investigators say the people responsible have still not been brought into custody.
As of April 6, Rodriguez remained wanted, the second suspect had not been publicly named, and authorities had not announced an arrest. The next clear milestone is whether investigators locate the suspects and release new court or sheriff’s office records explaining the charge and the events of March 26.
Author note: Last updated April 6, 2026.