A 22-year-old man was sentenced last week to 17 years in prison after admitting to a shooting without injuries at an apartment complex using a pistol he pickpocketed from a woman less than a week before.
Xavier Olivarez, who has been held at the Lubbock County Detention Center since his Oct. 8 arrest, appeared Sept. 14 in the 137th District Court and entered pleas of guilty to counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, evading arrest with a vehicle and theft from persons.
Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon is a second-degree felony that carries a punishment of two to 20 years in prison. The evading charge is a third-degree felony that carries a punishment of two to 10 years in prison.
In exchange for his guilty pleas, Olivarez was
sentenced to 17 years in prison for the aggravated assault charge, 10 years in prison for the evading charge and time served for the theft charge.
He will also run those sentenced concurrently.
Investigating a shooting at a Lubbock apartment
Olivarez's charge stems from a Lubbock police investigation in connection with an Oct. 5 shooting at an apartment complex in the 2400 block of 44th Street.
He is one of two people charged in the shooting.
Daniel Moreno, 18, who has been held at the Lubbock County Detention Center since Dec. 17, faces three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for his role in the shooting.
The investigation began after Lubbock police officers responded about 6:45 p.m. to a shots fired call at the apartment complex.
Responding officers spoke to a woman who said earlier that day, she was on a video call with Moreno and Olivarez, who began asking her about her boyfriend, according to a police report.
The woman said Olivarez showed her a gun and told her he was going to come over and shoot her boyfriend.
She said later that night, she and her boyfriend were in the parking lot when she spotted an armed man, later identified as Olivarez, approaching them from the east side of the apartment complex and began shooting at them.
She said she and her boyfriend fled into her apartment, the report states.
Another witness told officers she saw a man in a black shirt with a ski mask over his face armed with a pink handgun walking through the east side of the courtyard.
She said the man began firing at the couple in the parking lot.
She said Moreno reportedly began shooting at her from behind her, the report states.
Officers spoke to another witness who provided them with a video of the shooting that he captured on his phone.
Court records show Olivarez was sentenced in March 2025 to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and exhibiting a firearm on campus.
Court records show he was released on parole on Aug. 12, 2025.
Meanwhile, an interview between detectives and 18-year-old Adrian Casias in connection with a fatal Sept. 28 shooting at a house party in South Lubbock resulted in Olivarez's identification as a possible suspect in the theft of a handgun the next day at a CVS in the 3400 block of Slide Road.
In that case, a woman said she was inspecting the tire on the driver's side of her vehicle and felt someone push an arm against her back while taking her handgun from her back pocket.
The woman took a picture of the thief who wore an orange beanie as he ran towards a waiting vehicle.
Casias was sentenced on Sept. 3 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to a count of deadly conduct, admitting to firing his gun during the house party. He also admitted to his role as the getaway driver in the theft of the handgun from CVS.
Olivarez was arrested after a vehicle pursuit .
Olivarez was arrested Oct. 8 in the 1300 block of East Stanford Street a day after he led police a short pursuit when he evaded a traffic stop near the intersection of Emory Street and North Boston Avenue, according to court documents.
Patrol officers spotted the driver of a purple Toyota Camry, later identified as Olivarez, failing to signal a turn near the intersection of Emory Street and North Boston Avenue.
The officers followed the vehicle as it turned east onto the 2600 block of Cornell Street where they initiated a traffic stop.
Olivarez began to pull over but sped away instead, according to court documents.
The officer gave chase following Olivarez, who drove through the Arnett Benson neighborhood where the pursuit was canceled.
Shortly after a homeowner called police saying the vehicle he saw involved in a police chase was now abandoned in front of his house in 3000 block of Colgate Street.
Officers searched the vehicle and found an orange ski mask, and an official letter addressed to Olivarez.
Detectives found a picture on Olivarez's Instagram account he posted two hours before the chase that depicted him wearing an orange ski mask standing on top of the Camry.
Olivarez also posted on the social media platform screenshots of his text conversation with his grandmother who was telling him that police were towing his vehicle.
Olivarez responded telling his grandmother not to let police tow his vehicle.
His grandmother asked if he evaded police who were stopping him for a "sticker" to which he replied "all (I know) is I lost them in the car but I hit a curb and the tire popped so I then I ran...," the documents state.
Detectives found a third picture on Instagram that showed Olivarez on the phone with a police officer.
In the phone call, which was recorded by the officer's body worn camera, Olivarez admitted to driving away from officers because he was scared they were "trying to take him in."
During his interview with police he admitted to being at the Sept. 28 house party with Casias.
He also admitted to his role in stealing a handgun from the back pocket of a woman, saying Casias pressured him into stealing the weapon, which he said he threw away, the documents state.
Gabriel Monte is the criminal justice reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in Texas. Have a news tip for him? Email him at gmonte@lubbockonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Man gets 17 years in prison for shooting in Central Lubbock
