Connor Hilton booking photo Galveston County Sheriffs Office
When police in Texas asked Connor Hilton — who is not even old enough to vote, legally drink alcohol or rent a car — what motivated him to shoot two friends in the head after they came to hang out with him before Christmas, he allegedly said that “he had thought about and wanted to commit a homicide for a long time.”
Hilton, 17, who was charged with murder this week, shot Ethan Riley, 18, on Dec. 23 at his suburban Friendswood, Texas home. A 19-year-old friend who accompanied Riley to Hilton’s house that evening was also shot, though he survived. He remains hospitalized in critical condition. Though not initially identified by name by police, according to a statement of probable cause obtained by Law&Crime on Thursday, the second victim is Benjamin Bliek.
The slaying, according to police, appeared altogether senseless.
In court records, police allege that on Dec. 23, they first received a 911 call from an individual who witnessed the shooting. The person, who is not identified in records, reported hearing two gunshots inside the home and said they called police while barricading themselves off in a bathroom of the Friendswood home.
Police said this witness would also tell them that after the shooting, they heard Hilton crying as he walked by the locked bathroom door and exclaimed: “What have I done?”
Once on the scene, police said they found Hilton outside of the home looking “visibly distraught” and when they asked him if anyone had been hurt, Hilton used two fingers to motion toward the house, nodded and “stated there were two teenagers inside [he] believed to be deceased,” the probable cause affidavit states.
The scene inside was grisly: Riley was lying on the floor in his T-shirt and shorts “with a gathering of blood under the subject’s head,” police wrote.
Bliek, meanwhile, was lying on the floor just nearby Riley.
Both had been shot in the head. A revolver with a teal handle and gray finish was found nearby. Hilton allegedly later told police he “talked his mother into” purchasing it for him.
After Riley and Bliek were transported to area hospitals, police say they took Hilton in for a gun residue swab of his hands and an interview. Police say throughout the session, they “observed Hilton confess to shooting Bliek and Riley.”
Hilton allegedly told police his friends came over to his house and that they were “all in the main area of the residence” when he started showing off his gun.
“Hilton stated that there was no disturbance between him and the other subjects to include any disagreement on the date of this incident,” the Friendswood Police reported. “Hilton advised affiant that he decided to shoot Riley, Bliek and [redacted] once inside the residence.”
The 17-year-old then allegedly told police he “stood up, raised the gun and shot Riley first in the left side of the head.”
“Hilton then stated that he then turned to his right and shot Bliek in the left side of the head,” the probable cause affidavit states.
Hilton also specifically told his arresting officer that he watched Bliek raise his hands up to defend himself when he pulled the trigger.
“Hilton stated that he fully understands what he had done and that he should be held accountable,” police said.
When first arrested by police in the wee hours of Dec. 24, he was only charged with two counts of aggravated assault with bodily injury. He was booked into the Galveston County Jail with bond set at $1 million.
Hilton posted it by midday. By Christmas night, he was rearrested after District Attorney Jack Roady approved an upgraded murder charge upon Riley’s death.
Notably, bond conditions first set for the 17-year-old did not include GPS monitoring but now do, according to court records obtained by Law&Crime from Roady’s office. Roady did not immediately return a request for comment on how much the new bond for Hilton may be now.
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