1925

January 21, 1925
Gunfire – 2003 Congress

DOB – 04/08/1876, Age 48
Badge –
Final Resting Place – Holy Cross, Houston, TX

Houston Police Detective Pete Corrales was shot and killed in a combination barber shop and soda fountain stand at 2003 Congress on January 25, 1925. The murder occurred as Detective Corrales rushed to the scene of a shooting after hearing shots fired.

The following is an account from eyewitnesses, who were present during the confrontation. The suspect, Max Martinez, entered the soda drink stand and met his girlfriend, Juanita Guzman, who worked at the location. The soda drink stand was separated from the barber shop by a partition. Martinez called Guzman for a bottle of soda water. Guzman replied that she did not have any. An argument issued and after several minutes, the suspect, Martinez, drew a pistol and fired point blank into the face of Guzman.

Detective Corrales, who was in the barber shop adjacent to the soda stand, heard the shot ring out and rushed to the scene. Corrales met the suspect, Martinez, face to face at the bar of the soda fountain, where a gunfight took place. Both guns blazed at the same time, and the suspect, Martinez, fell to the ground, shot in the mouth, chest, and arm. Detective Corrales, shot one time in the chest staggered outside the establishment to a drugstore next door, where he waited for an ambulance. Detective Corrales died shortly after arriving at St. Joseph's Hospital.

Detective Pete Corrales had been a detective on the Houston Police Department for a period of three years. He was praised as being one of the finest detectives to have worked for the department. He was survived by nine children.

Source – Houston Police Department Museum Files