A road rage incident in Houston, TX now leaves a mother and father without their 17-year-old son.
What We Know:
- On Tuesday, David Castro was on his way home from a Houston Astros game with his father Paul Castro, and younger brother. The group then encountered a Black male in a white sedan with a sunroof, who was trying to merge into their lane. Paul Castro said that he let in three cars ahead of the driver and then began to move up. The driver didn’t like that and began to shout at him and they exchanged hand gestures. An officer was near the scene and motioned for Paul Castro to let the driver into the lane, so he did.
- After the encounter, the Castro family went a different route, but the driver followed them for a few miles. Paul Castro decided to make a U-turn and that’s when the driver of the sedan fired off multiple rounds at the truck. The bullets missed the father and the younger son, but David Castro was struck in the head. Paul Castro called 911 and his son was rushed to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he was put on life support. His mother later informed ABC13, that he passed away.
- Mayor Sylvester Turner announced via Twitter that he was increasing the reward for David Castro’s killer’s capture from $5,000 to $10,000. He stated on Wednesday that he hoped officials would have at least the name of the driver of the sedan and possibly that person in custody, by end of the day. Unfortunately, law enforcement has yet to identify the Black male driving the sedan.
- The Houston police department released a statement that David Castro had died on Wednesday morning due to his injuries, however, they had to issue a correction as the 17-year-old was not deceased at that time. They are asking for anybody who has information regarding the shooter, to please come forward.
CORRECTION UPDATE: We have learned the victim is not deceased & sincerely apologize to his family. The teen is currently on life-support. Please join us in praying for this young man and his family.
We’ll be releasing a clearer photo of the wanted vehicle later today. #hounews https://t.co/HiFesNtPlT
— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) July 7, 2021
- Paul Castro stated that his son was one of the good ones, and “was set to be a National Merit Semifinalist.” David Castro played percussion at his high school and had dreams of joining the band in college. His family considered him to be a gentle soul who would become friends with the kids that others considered “outsiders” because he was one. The heartbroken father believes that his son “added to the world and made it better” and that “the world took him too early, in a senseless and meaningless way.”
- Aggressive and violent drivers in Houston have become a problem for law enforcement for the past few years. To deal with these incidents, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, the Houston Police Department, and the Texas Department of Public Safety all came together to create a new task force that handles cases with aggressive drivers. Turner stated that something has to change because no one should be getting so mad on the road that they resort to pulling out a gun.
“The reality is if it happened this time it can happen again. But there’s far too much road rage that’s occurring and we’re only going to stop it when people start turning these people in,” said Turner.
Please contact Houston Police Department Homicide Divison at (713)-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at (713)-222-TIPS if you have any information regarding this unfortunate incident.
