HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A north Houston man was fatally stabbed in front of his young son, according to police. "He was the best man I have ever known," his widow said. Her husband was fatally stabbed outside his family's north Houston apartment Sunday morning.
Jose Flores Hernandez was preparing to drive to a grocery store, to buy vegetables for a soup his wife was making. "Later, he was going to take the baby for a haircut," she said, tears rolling down her face.
Flores had put his son, Abner, in the child seat when a man ran up to him and stabbed him several times. "We think he was trying to steal Jose's truck," said Maria Quinntanilla, Flores' wife. The baby appears to have been the only witness to the attack. He was unharmed.
Somehow, the 34-year-old-construction worker found the strength to walk up the stairs to his family's apartment. He collapsed, and later died at a hospital. "He had no enemies," his widow explained. "He was respectful, responsible, he didn't drink, and he loved us."
An image released by the Houston Police Department and Crimestoppers shows a shirtless man, with a thin build, running. It is grainy and shows little facial detail of the man who may be the murder suspect.
"We came here because we thought Honduras was too dangerous," Quinntanilla said. According to a friend, the couple wanted to live the American dream.
The journey to Houston began several years ago in Honduras for Flores and the woman who was to become his wife.
Now, Quinntanilla is pregnant with the couple's second child. The couple recently brought her three sons from a previous marriage to live with them. "He loved them like they were his own," she said.
They are now mourning him like their own father, in the small apartment. Flores spent a lot of time with the kids, and family pictures inside the apartment show him with Abner at a park.
A collection jar has been placed on the dining room table in hopes of returning Flores home to Honduras for burial.
"One day I'll tell his children what a wonderful man his father was," his widow said. "For now, I want the person who killed him caught, so another family won't have to go through this."