A Roma man is facing an assault charge. Deputies say he punched his own mother in the face. It happened during a family fight at their home.
Christopher Garza is 23 years old. He was charged with Assault Causing Bodily Injury to a Family Member. That charge falls under Texas Penal Code Section 22.01. It is a Class A Misdemeanor. The fight happened at his family's home. It was Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
The fight happened about 1:05 p.m. It was on a Farm to Market Road in Roma. That is in Starr County. Starr County Sheriff's Deputy Omar Martinez was sent to the home. His badge number is 149. Someone called about a family fight.
This case is a reminder. One bad argument can put more than one person in jail. Deputies say both a mother and her son face charges. Not just one of them.
Deputy Martinez wrote a complaint. It says the fight started as an argument. Garza and his mother were yelling at each other. She told the deputy she hit her son first. She hit him with her open hand. Garza hit her back. He hit the left side of her face. He used his closed fist, the complaint says.
Garza's mother is 60 years old. El Tejano is not using her name here. She was also arrested. She faces her own charge from the same fight. Both mother and son now have criminal cases. Neither one walked away clean.
A Class A Misdemeanor is a serious charge in Texas. It is not a felony. But it still carries real weight. It can mean up to a year in the Starr County jail. It can also mean a fine of up to $4,000. It leaves a mark on a person's record.
Texas law treats family fights different from other fights. Hitting a stranger is one crime. Hitting a family member is its own crime under the law. The law counts parents and kids as family. It counts other close relatives too. That is why Garza was charged under the family violence law. He was not charged with regular assault.
Under Texas law, a charge like this gets marked as family violence in the court record. That marking stays attached to the case. It can matter later for bond conditions or in any future case, if there is ever another arrest.
In this case, the complaint says the mother hit first. She used her open hand. Her son hit back. He used a closed fist to her face. Both actions can lead to charges under Texas law. That is part of why both got arrested.
Garza's case will move through the Starr County court system. It will follow the same steps as any other Class A Misdemeanor case there. Cases like this one usually start with an arraignment. That is a hearing where a judge reads the charge out loud. The person charged enters a plea at that hearing.
A first offense like this stays a misdemeanor under Texas law. It does not automatically become a felony. But a repeat charge for hitting a family member can be charged higher, up to a felony level, depending on the person's record.
Texas created the family violence charge category so courts and prosecutors can track cases between people who are related, separate from fights between strangers.
El Tejano will keep following this case. We will also follow the case against Garza's mother. Both cases stem from the same argument at the same home, on the same afternoon.
