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On March 31, 1995, Selena Quintanilla-Perez died. The president of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, was found guilty of shooting Selena in the back, and she was later sentenced to life in prison. Selena’s death sent shockwaves through her community. She was rocketing into stardom just as her life was cut short. Below, you can see archive footage showing the scene of Selena’s death and an audio of the 911 call when Selena was shot.
She Was Shot at Day’s Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas
Selena was shot and killed at Days Inn off I-37 in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1995. In the video below, you can see a reporter at the scene where she was shot.
Norma Martinez, a house cleaner at Days Inn, testified that after Selena was shot, she ran out of the motel room and Martinez could see Saldivar still pointing a gun at her. Martinez said a police officer ran after Saldivar, who had gotten into her red truck and had a gun pointed at her head. Then-assistant police chief Ken Bung said that Selena managed to get to the Days Inn lobby to ask for help, and was declared dead at Memorial Medical Center about an hour later, The New York Times reported.
In the video above, you can see part of the red pickup truck and the scene where, when the video was filmed, SWAT team members were still trying to negotiate with Saldivar. At the time of the video, her name hadn’t been released yet. Saldivar surrendered to police after a more-than-nine-hour standoff at the motel parking lot, Houston Chronicle reported.
In the video below, you can hear the 911 call about Selena.
Selena had agreed to meet Saldivar at the Days Inn to get financial documents related to her boutique stores, The New York Times reported. Saldivar had been fired from managing the stores just weeks earlier after employees suspected she was stealing money and customers complained about orders disappearing.
The day had been filled with strange happenings. When they first met earlier, Saldivar had told Selena that she was raped in Mexico, so the two went to a hospital together. Carla Anthony, a registered nurse there, testified that she saw Saldivar and Selena that morning around 10 a.m. on March 24. Saldivar looked depressed and said she was raped in Mexico. They instructed Saldivar to speak to the police in San Antonio because the case was out of their jurisdiction, she said. After that, they returned to the hotel. That’s when an argument between the two took place.
Selena was 23 when she was killed.
The Days Inn where Selena was killed was later renamed the Knights Inn. You can see footage of the hotel 25 years after Selena was shot in the video above. This video was shot on June 20, 2020.
Saldivar Still Claims the Shooting Was an Accident
Saldivar still claims the shooting was an accident, In Touch Weekly reported in 2018. You can see her retelling her story in the video above.
In March 2019, Saldivar requested a new trial, Radar Online reported. She claimed that the shoes Selena was wearing when she was killed would somehow help her case, but the prosecutor Carlos Valdez didn’t disclose to the jury that he had the evidence. Her request for a new trial was denied.
According to records from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Saldivar is serving a life sentence at Mountain View in Gatesville, Texas — a maximum-security prison. She’ll be eligible for parole on March 30, 2025.
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