A Texas father took matters into his own hands and shot an illegal immigrant who tried to steal his car with his family inside.
The brazen carjacker, later identified as Jose Ramirez, 30, from Mexico, was acting erratically and crashed into two vehicles prior to the incident. The father was shot and killed by the man after the two struggled for nearly a minute, and the carjacker got into the driver’s seat.
The incident unfolded Sunday, May 3, in a parking lot in Garland, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas, near a gas station off Highway 66.
Ramirez reportedly hit two vehicles nearby and attempted to enter several other vehicles at a gas station before walking across the street to the shopping plaza. The scene was caught on surveillance video, aired by FOX 4 Dallas-Ft. Worth, and shows the suspect approaching a white four-door sedan. The father is sitting in the car with the door open but gets out of the vehicle.
Ramirez walks up and raises his right arm as if he is going to strike the man, and the father tries to grab his shirt and pull him out of the way.
The carjacker gets into the driver’s seat, and the two struggle. Ramirez then gets out, closes the back passenger door, and gets back in the driver’s seat as if he is going to drive off.
The father runs around to the passenger side and opens fire when Ramirez won’t get out, police said.
The majority of family members, including a baby, were inside the car but several of managed to escape. A younger child can be seen opening the back driver’s side door and running away.
Garland Police said it doesn’t appear Ramirez was a Garland resident and he was identified as a Mexican national by several news outlets. Ramirez was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead. The victims of the carjacking were not injured.
Garland Police Department officials said the father stayed at the vehicle, turned over his weapon and was cooperative with investigators. Police do not expect to file charges against him.
Garland Police Lt. Pedro Barineau told local reporter the shooting “seemed to be self-defense.”
“That driver was defending himself and was fighting with that suspect,” Barineau said. “We’re also looking into why this suspect did what he did.”
According to Garland Police Department, at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, officers responded to a crash involving a car that hit two other vehicles.
Ramirez was the driver of the car at fault and parked at a nearby gas station. He then attempted to “take several vehicles by force” in the parking lot before heading across the street.
“You could definitely tell that he was not in his right state of mind,” Tatiana Starks, the manager of a nearby store, told FOX 4. “I’m just glad that the man was able to protect himself and his family.”
The manager said she heard a loud crash and went outside and started recording the scene. She saw the man exit his vehicle and try to get into other vehicles in the gas station parking lot before walking across the street toward her.
The family of eight was unaware of what was happening and were trying to get into their vehicle.
“It kind of all really happened really fast,” the witness told FOX 4. “It’s just a blessing that the kids and the family walked away with no injuries.”
