Chop shop worker shoots and kills man looking for friend’s stolen truck, Texas cops say
A man was shot and killed on May 6 while searching for his friend’s stolen truck at a chop shop, Texas authorities said.
Shawn Mireles, 21, jumped the fence of a private property “known in the community to be a chop shop and dumping ground for stolen vehicles and stolen vehicle parts,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Sgt. Michael Ritchie called the property a “junkyard auto-type business” in a media briefing shared by KRIV.
Mireles believed his friend’s stolen truck was possibly at the location, according to the sheriff.
Once inside, he was confronted by 49-year-old property manager Jorge Zuniga-Martinez, who was armed with a gun, Gonzalez said.
“(Mireles) apologized, attempted to retreat and leave,” but Zuniga-Martinez “still shot him multiple times,” according to Gonzalez.
Mireles was pronounced dead at the scene, law enforcement said.
Zuniga-Martinez, who remained on site following the shooting, was arrested on a murder charge and booked at the Harris County Jail on a $200,000 bond, court records show.
McClatchy News reached out to Zuniga-Martinez’s attorney for comment on May 8 but did not immediately hear back.
He is due back in court June 11.
