19-year-old wanted in shooting death of Houston Yellow Cab driver arrested in Bellville

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The 19-year-old wanted in the shooting death of a Yellow Cab driver has been arrested in Bellville, a little more than an hour west of Houston.

Jiterion Kegler has been charged with murder in the death of Michael Ubani.

The shooting happened Monday around 1 p.m. at the Kroger in the 3000 block of Montrose Boulevard near Westheimer.

Houston police said Kegler walked up to the cab, fired several rounds and then took off, leaving the victim slumped over and wounded.

Officials believe Ubani was working at the time. He was taken to Ben Taub Hospital, where he died on Tuesday.

Yellow Cab president Michael Spears released this statement to ABC13 Eyewitness News after Ubani's death:

"We are all heartbroken to learn of the passing of Michael earlier this morning. We will miss his warm heart and charitable attitude towards others. As a 19 year veteran independent taxi driver in Houston, he will always be remembered as a friendly cab driver that worked hard to provide for his family. Yellow Cab is thankful for the efforts of the Houston Police Department and is hopeful that they will have the suspect in custody soon."

Friday morning, the Bellville Police Department posted on Facebook that Kegler was located at Park Place Apartments in Bellville.

He was said to be armed and dangerous, but authorities took him into custody without incident.

A jarring sight unraveled in the Kroger parking lot. A bullet hole could be seen through the driver's side window of the cab. The driver's loafers and bloody clothes were found on the ground.

"I heard bam, bam, bam, and saw a whole bunch of kids run away from there," Johnson Huang said of Monday's shooting.

Huang had just walked out the back door of his restaurant. He could see the injured driver and those who hang out at the corner in Montrose scatter. Eric Connerly was one of them.

He went from defending himself from the back of a patrol car as a person of interest to being released.

"I heard it," Connerly said. "I was sitting right here, I heard gunshots, I ran, wrong place wrong time, didn't want to be the next victim."

HPD now considers him and his two friends who were also detained as witnesses.

Those familiar with the driver say he often sat in the parking lot waiting for fares, and were shocked to learn he had been targeted.

Kegler is being held in the Austin County Jail waiting to be extradited to Harris County.