Prosecutors said a homemade firearm and silencer were used in a wrong-target highway shooting.
HOUSTON, Texas — A 3D printer, firearm parts and a silencer helped federal prosecutors prove a murder-for-hire plot that left the wrong commuter wounded on Highway 99, officials said.
The physical evidence set the case apart from a more common shooting prosecution. Jurors saw the 3D printer that prosecutors said Michael Seery used to manufacture the weapon and silencer that Ricardo Obando Jr. is believed to have used in the ambush. They also saw photos of firearms and firearm parts found at Seery’s home and storage unit. That evidence helped turn the case from a roadside attack into a federal prosecution involving homemade weapons, business payments, surveillance and an old personal grievance that prosecutors said ended with an innocent man shot on his way to work.
Seery, 43, of Katy, and Obando, 52, of Houston, were sentenced to life in prison by U.S. District Judge David Hittner after jurors convicted them in February. The trial lasted eight days, and the jury deliberated for about two days before finding both men guilty on murder-for-hire and weapons counts. Prosecutors said Obando shot the victim several times in the early morning of Feb. 4, 2025, while the man was driving to work on Highway 99. The victim was wounded in the neck, torso and hand but survived. Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck announced the sentences in April.
The weapon evidence was tied to a larger theory of planning. Prosecutors said Seery hired Obando to kill a man Seery believed had an affair with his wife while Seery was in prison. They said Seery used his business to pay Obando and hide the real purpose of the money. Cell phone evidence showed Obando watched the victim and made an earlier failed attempt before the shooting, prosecutors said. U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei described the case after the verdict as an ambush caused by “jealousy and faulty information.” The phrase reflected both the motive prosecutors alleged and the mistake at the center of the shooting.
The wrong man was shot because the intended target had moved away from the residence Seery believed was still connected to him, prosecutors said. The intended target testified at trial. Seery’s wife also testified, telling jurors about an affair that had happened about 12 years earlier. Prosecutors said Seery remained angry about it as recently as January 2025, weeks before the attack. The actual victim’s name has not been released in the main federal statements. Officials have described him as a Katy man on his daily commute, not the person Seery wanted killed.
The gun and silencer also shaped the charges. Seery and Obando were convicted of aiding and abetting discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and aiding and abetting the use of a firearm silencer during and in relation to a crime of violence. Both were also convicted of conspiracy to use interstate facilities to commit murder for hire causing bodily injury and aiding and abetting use of interstate facilities to commit murder for hire causing bodily injury. Seery was convicted of transferring a firearm to be used in a felony and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Obando was convicted of receiving a firearm to be used in a felony.
Federal prosecutors first announced the broader murder-for-hire charges in July 2025, months after the shooting. The superseding indictment charged Seery, Obando and Matthew Rosas in the plot and said the men had planned for months. It also placed the case in federal court, where the firearm and murder-for-hire counts carried long potential sentences. The indictment was a charging document, not proof, but the later trial produced convictions against Seery and Obando. Rosas, 25, was acquitted. Prosecutors had alleged he drove the vehicle used during the attack, but jurors did not convict him.
The defense tried to separate the evidence into pieces rather than one plot. Seery’s defense said he was not involved in the conspiracy. Obando’s defense challenged the cell phone evidence. Defense arguments also questioned whether prosecutors had shown enough about the true intended target or any connection between the defendants and the man who was shot. The jury rejected those arguments for Seery and Obando after hearing from the victim, the intended target and Seery’s wife, and after viewing footage captured by the victim’s in-car camera system. That video showed the moment of the shooting and the 911 call that followed, prosecutors said.
The case also showed how investigators moved from the scene of a highway shooting to searches of homes, storage areas, phones and records. The FBI and Harris County Sheriff’s Office investigated with the Texas Department of Public Safety and Katy Police Department, and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office assisted. Investigators recovered or documented evidence that prosecutors later used to describe preparation, weapon production and payment. The government said Seery had multiple firearms and firearm parts despite his status as a felon who could not legally possess guns. Those discoveries supported the separate possession and transfer counts that were added to the murder-for-hire allegations.
The shooting itself remained the human center of the case. Prosecutors said the victim was driving to work when gunfire entered his vehicle. The wounds to his neck, torso and hand were serious, but he survived and later testified. FBI Houston Acting Special Agent in Charge Jason Hudson said the plot turned a Houston highway into a dangerous place for morning commuters and showed disregard for human life. The court’s life sentences mean both convicted men face spending the rest of their lives in federal custody. Their exact prison placements will be determined by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
The case stands with life sentences imposed, Rosas acquitted and the wounded driver alive after testifying. Any next step for Seery and Obando would come through federal prison designation or later court filings challenging the convictions or sentences.
Author note: Last updated May 22, 2026.