Teenager violently beaten outside his Richmond home in case of mistaken identity

Friday, January 21, 2022
High school student attacked in his family's driveway in Richmond
Three men attacked the teen while demanding 'ice,' but the victim said when they got a good look at him they said, "Oh, it's the wrong guy."

FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office is investigating the violent attack of a teenager outside of his Richmond-area home.

"It's traumatizing. I don't like putting it that way, but it really is traumatizing," said the teen who asked to remain anonymous.

The attack happened Sunday at about 11:45 p.m. when the teen said he came home from work. He parked his truck in the driveway and as he opened his car door he was attacked.

"I was dragged out, and I was right here on the ground. Laid down, knocked down and they were just beating me and beating me," the teen said.

He said three men with guns surrounded him, pistol whipping him in the back of the head while making demands.

"Asking me, 'Where's the ice, where's the ice?' And to me ice is jewelry, like that's what I was thinking, and I was like, 'Well, all I have is my chain. Like I have my watch, my phone, just take whatever you want,'" he said.

But the men didn't take his chain, watch or phone. Deputies told the family the 'ice' the suspects were likely looking for was crystal meth.

"I was at gunpoint. All three of them, at some point, put their guns to my head. I thought I was going to die," he said. "I closed my eyes, I gave my last prayer. I was like, 'If this is my time Lord then it's my time.'"

The victim said he fell unconscious for several minutes and when he finally came back, the suspects took a good look at him.

"Then he said, 'Well, check his face.' They lifted up my face, looked at me and he was like, 'Oh, (expletive) it's the wrong guy,'" the teen explained.

With his family asleep inside, the teen said he tried to stay quiet through the beating. In his moments of pain and fear, his instincts were to protect his parents and siblings inside. He didn't want them to come face-to-face with the violence. After surviving the attack the teen said he still wants to protect others.

"I consider myself tough. I'm a young, tough kid. I was able to take those beatings, but imagine if it was an elderly person, a pregnant woman, a child," he said.

The boy's family said they will be increasing security measures on their property and urge others to do the same.

"Who would have thought at your own house it was going to happen? I never thought it was going to be in my own house, and it happened right in my driveway," the teen said.

The victim was rushed to the hospital Sunday night where he received staples to the injures on his head. The wounds on his head and hands will heal, but it's the emotional trauma inside that he said has changed his perspective.

"It was an eye opener to me that tomorrow isn't promised, and you never know when your time is going to come," the victim said.

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