John Contreras, left, and Tristan Banks

UPDATE: Funeral services for Tristan Banks will be held Saturday, Dec. 1, at 2 p.m. at Laurel Land Funeral Home and Memorial Park, 6000 S. R.L. Thornton Freeway in Dallas.

An Irving man remains in custody today (Monday, Nov. 26) in the Irving City Jail in connection with the Nov. 21 shooting death of his former roommate.

John Contreras, 40, has been charged with first-degree felony murder in the death of Tristan Banks, who self-identified as a bisexual man. Bond has been set at $1 million.

Although Irving police continue to investigate the shooting, Irving PD’s media relations officer, James McLellan, said the incident apparently began as an argument that escalated to a physical altercation, ending with Contreras shooting Banks.

“They were at one time at least roommates,” although it’s not clear whether the two had been more than just friends, McLellan said.

The two had been out together at a restaurant and then went back to Contreras’ house in the 1600 block of Rusdell Street in south Irving, McLellan said. During the drive they got into an argument, and once they reached the house, the argument escalated into a physical altercation.

Although investigators are still sorting out the chain of events, McLellan said Contreras claims that Banks was hitting him, and that he “retrieved a handgun he had in the house” and shot Banks in self defense.

“Keep in mind that right now, all we have is what [Contreras said about what happened]. There was an autopsy performed, and detectives are waiting on toxicology test results and results from other tests, like a gun shot residue test,” McLellan said. “There is still a lot of forensic work to be done, but at this point, it appears to have been a domestic situation.”

Banks’ sister has started a GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral expenses. As of 2:20 p.m. today, the page — at GoFundMe.com/tristan-banks — had raised $2,809 of its $5,000 goal.