Father of 2022 crash victim accused of stabbing other driver

ODESSA, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- In May of 2022, the Odessa Police Department and Odessa Fire Rescue responded to the scene of a crash on E University Boulevard and Adams Avenue and found 23-year-old Elijah Barrera dead. Investigators said Elijah was traveling through the intersection on a motorcycle when he was struck and killed by 56-year-old Rodolfo Gamboa. 

Previous reports show that Gamboa was not cited at the time of the crash, pending further investigation, and OPD never released any more details about the crash to media; now, Elijah’s father has been accused of assaulting Gamboa months after the crash that killed his son. 

According to court documents, around 6:00 p.m. on October 26, officers were called to a home in the 2500 block of N Muskingum Avenue to investigate a disturbance. At the scene, officers found Gamboa with cuts to the top of his head, above his right eyebrow, on his lower back, and on the left side of his body. The victim told investigators that he was walking back to his home from a neighbor’s house when he was attacked. 

The victim said he was 50% positive that he’d been attacked by the father of a man who had died as a result of a crash he’d been involved in last year; the man said he recognized the alleged assailant as 62-year-old Adrian Sapata Barrera, a man who’d allegedly threatened him in a court hearing in 2022.

Following an investigation into the knife attack, investigators requested a warrant for Adrian’s arrest, and he was taken into custody on November 9. Jail records show that Adrian, who has been charged with one count of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, was released from the Ector County Law Enforcement Center the same day on a $75,000 bond.