A convicted felon will serve 30 years in prison for the 2021 murder of a teenager who was returning from a Houston Astros baseball game with his father.
Paul Castro and his 17-year-old son David were leaving the July 8, 2021, Astros-Oakland Athletics game — which the Athletics won 2-1 — in their pickup truck when Gerald Williams cut them off in his white Buick, court documents stated. That led to a verbal altercation between the father and Williams, a convicted felon who spent 12 years in prison for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Williams began following the Castros out of the downtown area.
Castro attempted to elude Williams, driving at a high rate of speed, but as he made a U-turn at the east Freeway, he heard several gunshots ring out and saw the rear window of the truck had been shattered, then realized his son had been shot. David Castro, a senior at Westside High School, was part of the Westside Wolf Band Drumline and drum captain of the entire percussion section.
“David’s senior year is over as is my life as I knew it,” the father said in 2021.
Surveillance video from a Valero gas station confirmed that Williams had chased the pickup truck in his car; police found two fired .40 caliber bullets at the U-turn.
A police investigation found that a car matching the description of Williams’ was put on sale through Offer Up. The police looked for the person who posted the ad, later discovering that Williams had bought a Buick Lacrosse on May 30, but the vehicle was nowhere to be found. It was later found in a field near Williams’ house.
“It is a living nightmare,” Paul Castro said when he saw Williams in court. “And every time we have to come up here and stare at the person accused of killing David it is painful. David’s not here. He’s (Williams) going to go home with his family tonight because of a discount bond.”
Paul Castro started a #RAKDavid (Random Act of Kindness) movement.
“Random acts of kindness are things that all people can do to put goodness back into the world,” he said. “I think in a time where we are at now where there is so many unknowns with Covid and everything, people want to feel a sense of control and ownership over their lives, and one of the best things to do is to go out and do something good for the community, for yourself, for someone else, and in doing that you can make the world a better place.”