Man shot and killed trying to protect wife in SW Houston purse snatching
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Oscar Anibel Gomez was 53 years old and worked hard to support his family. Late Friday night, he was killed trying to protect his wife.
The couple was returning to their apartment in southwest Houston, on Brookglade near Dairy Ashford.
"I was looking for my keys," said Claudia Pineda, Gomez's wife. "When I looked up, I saw this kid and I yelled at Oscar, telling him to run, because they have a gun."
One of the suspects beat her, trying to steal her purse.
"He had me there with the gun pointed at my chest," she said. "His mission was my wallet."
She said she heard her husband say to the second robber, "'Leave her, leave her.' Then I heard the gunshot."
When the gun was fired, she said the suspects ran, allowing her to run to her husband.
"I told him, 'You need to live. You need to live. You can't do this to me.' He said, 'They killed me. I'm going to die,'" Pineda recalled. Moments later, he was gone.
She hopes police recover security video that will identify the car and the three men inside, who she believes are all teenagers. She wonders whether she and her husband were followed when they were driving home, and she longs for justice.
"What would I say to them? That they turn themselves in and pay because they killed a hardworking man. A fighter. We came to this country from Honduras to get ahead, with sacrifice," the widow said through tears.
She wants her husband to be taken home to Honduras for burial.
They were married for 14 years.
Anyone with information on the murder can contact Crimestoppers anonymously. A reward will be offered in exchange for information that results in an arrest. Their number is 713-521-4600.
