The delivery driver died after crashing his car. Those who attacked him are still on the run.
Phillip Little's family wants to remember him just like a photo they showed Eyewitness News -- surrounded by family and smiling. His family describes him as a nice, hard-working person.
"Just a good guy; out working every day, out trying to survive like everybody else," said Little's cousin, Mike James.
He says his cousin had been a pizza delivery driver for years. No one knew his trip to Madden Lane here would be his last.
"Too many idiots out there with guns that just want to shoot people for no reason," said James.
HPD says it all started after 11pm Wednesday when someone called a southeast Houston Domino's Pizza and asked for a pizza delivery at a house in the 5400 block of Madden Lane. Authorities say when Little, 40, arrived with the order, the elderly resident told him she did not place that call.
Police say as Little walked back to his car, he was ambushed by an unknown number of suspects. That's when neighbors reported hearing several gunshots.
"At this time, we believe that the person that called him to set up the pizza delivery is the one that shot him at the location where the pizza was delivered to, and that person didn't order pizza," said Sgt. W.L. Meeler with the Houston Police Department.
A wounded Little was somehow able to get back into his car, police say, and drive the wrong direction in the northbound lanes of Martin Luther King Boulevard for almost a mile before crashing through a fence and into a backyard shed.
"When he went through the fence, everybody just hit the ground and we were like what happened? So my sister walked down here to see... She was trying to talk to him, you know, to see if he was responsive and he moaned a couple of times and she got on her phone and called 911," said one eyewitness.
"Devastation. He was a good kid. Too young to be gone. Too young. A good kid just doing his job; trying to make a living to support himself," said another neighbor.
Police found Little slumped behind the wheel. He was taken to Ben Taub Hospital, where he later died.
Authorities say the motive for this attack was robbery.
"For nothing. Supposedly he just had 20 bucks in his pocket. Who would take somebody's life for 20 dollars? That's just stupid," Mike James said.
Police are trying to track down exactly who made that call, but so far they do not have any suspects.
A spokesperson for Domino's Pizza says they are shocked and saddened by the attack, telling Eyewitness News, "We hope the Houston police can apprehend the suspects as quickly as possible and we would encourage anyone with information to contact the police immediately."
Anyone with information in this case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
