Family says man was 'ambushed' and executed over $500 car repair bill days before Christmas

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The family of a man gunned down two days before Christmas is pleading with the public to help find his killers.

Family identified the man killed in the 7600 block of the North Freeway Friday afternoon as 29-year-old Luis Manuel Casillas.

They said he was at his body shop with a customer whose truck he had fixed. They got into a dispute over the $500 charge and things took a turn for the worst.

"My brother started running," his sister Sandy Casillas said she learned from witnesses. "He ran through all the side businesses he could run through. They did catch up to him, and they shot him in the head. (Point) blank. They put him on his knees, and they shot him in the head."

She said there were six suspects, who she believes are younger men. However, Houston police have not released an official description of the suspects or their vehicles.

Luis Casillas' brother, Jose Casillas, said he had been in contact with him that day before the confrontation about this customer and even sent him screenshots of his conversation with the man.

"After that, I just received a call that my brother has been shot," his brother said with tears in his eyes in the parking lot of the funeral home. "I didn't believe it at first."

The family said the holidays will never be the same for them.

Luis Casillas leaves behind a wife and two daughters, aged 2 and 3.

He had already purchased Christmas gifts for his girls and planned to use the money he collected from the customer to finish his holiday shopping.

"Santa was coming with daddy, but Santa showed up, but daddy didn't," Sandy Casillas said.

She is hopeful that whoever is behind his murder will be caught and put in jail.

"You don't do that to any human beings," Sandy Casillas said. "You don't do that to animals. How do you do that to my brother? What they did is not fair and if you're the mother of those six individuals, at least be a good enough mother to turn your child in."

Luis Casillas will be laid to rest Thursday at the Funeraria Del Angel.

For more on this story, follow Mycah Hatfield on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.