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A Texas grand jury will decide whether to criminally charge a Houston taqueria patron who shot a robber dead last week, police said.
The Houston Police Department announced Monday the 46-year-old customer has turned himself in and is cooperating with the investigation into the deadly shooting. He has not been named because he was not arrested or charged with any crime.
The heist took place inside the Ranchito #4 Taqueria around 11:30 p.m. last Thursday, when a suspect, identified as 30-year-old Eric Washington, entered the business, produced what appeared to be a gun and demanded that all patrons hand over their cash and wallets.
Chilling surveillance video from the eatery shows customers cowering under tables as the masked and gloved perp, dressed in all black, walks around grabbing their possessions.
As the suspect heads for the exit with his loot, the 46-year-old diner sitting in a booth stands up, pulls out a handgun and opens fire on the robber, causing him to collapse.
Then, while standing directly over the wounded intruder, the customer shoots him again at point-blank range, as seen in the video.
The armed good Samaritan then collected the stolen money and belongings from Washington and returned them to their owners before fleeing the taqueria.
Washington was pronounced dead at the scene. Police later determined that the gun in his possession was not real.
After police issued a public plea asking the armed customer to come forward so they could interview him about the shooting, his attorney released a statement to the station ABC 13 defending his actions.
“In fear of his life and his friend’s life my client acted to protect everyone in the restaurant,” the attorney wrote, stressing that in Texas, “a shooting is justified in self-defense, defense of others and in defense of property.”
The unidentified diner has since met with prosecutors from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and with police homicide detectives.
Once the investigation is complete, the case will be presented to a grand jury, and the man’s attorney said they are “confident the Grand Jury will conclude that the shooting was justified under Texas Law.”
The lawyer described the incident as “traumatic” to his client, and noted that “taking a human life is something he does not take lightly and will burden him for the rest of his life.”
Records indicate that the robbery suspect, Eric Washington, had an extensive criminal history and was out on bond at the time of the fatal shooting.
In 2015, Washington was convicted of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 15 years in prison in connection with the fatal shooting of 62-year-old Hamid Waraich two years prior.
Washington was released on parole in 2021 after serving less than half of his sentence, but he was back behind bars in mid-December after being arrested for allegedly shoving and scratching his girlfriend.
Washington was charged in that incident with misdemeanor family violence and was subsequently released on a personal recognizance bond.
“Eric was an evil criminal that took joy in harassing and robbing innocent families,” Waraich’s son Sean Waraich told the station. “The individual at the taqueria is a true hero.”
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