Photo courtesy of KTRK.
Twenty-nine-year-old Eddie Clark III was shot and killed on May 17 in Katy, Texas, after his neighbors mistook his car for a similar car belonging to vandals. Police say that Clark crashed into a tree after being chased by his neighbors. Joe Argueta, 19, admitted to shooting at the vehicle.
Argueta and his mother, Florinda Argueta, 39, were both arrested and charged with murder. His father, forty-five-year-old Luis Argueta, and his 29-year-old uncle, Margarito Alcantar, left the scene and are still at large.
Joe Argueta told the police that he and his family members had been repeatedly targeted by someone driving a black Dodge Charger. The vandal, a friend of the teen’s ex-girlfriend, allegedly vandalized and shot at the family’s home and vehicles.
Believing they had found the culprit, the Arguetas family blocked Clark’s car with their own vehicles after seeing it in the neighborhood. Luis Arguetas and Alcantar approached the frightened man with a gun and baseball bat as Clark returned to his car. Several shots were fired at the young man as he tried to get away. Clark, who was driving a grey Dodge Challenger, crashed into a tree and tried to run but collapsed, where police later found him. He was taken by Life Flight to the Memorial Hermann Hospital and was later pronounced
dead.Video footage of the crime was caught on surveillance cameras, and all four family members have been charged with murder. An officer at Argueta’s hearing noted the stupidity of the family’s actions.
“This is an example of taking the law into your own hands,” he said. “Not going through the proper authorities to resolve any other harm or destruction that was being done to your own residence or your own home. It still doesn’t justify taking the law into your own hands and mistaking the person.”
Argueta was released on a $50,000 bond. His father and uncle are still on the run.