Road rage leads angry driver to threaten mom and kids with bow and arrow, police say

PASADENA, Texas – A road rage incident with a medieval flair unfolded Tuesday morning on the streets of Pasadena. An angry driver allegedly threatened a mom and her kids with a bow and arrow, according to officers at the Pasadena Police Department.

Ami Arteche was headed to the dentist’s office with her two girls, ages 3 and 10, when she ran into construction on Richey Road. It forced her into a slow-moving, single lane, she said.

She said she slowed down, and that is when she noticed the driver following closely behind her became agitated.

“He’s mad cause I need to go slow," Arteche said. "I can’t go left or right.”

Once they passed the roadwork, Arteche said the driver pulled up beside her truck and threatened her.

“I look over, and he rolls down his window halfway, and he points, and I can read his lips, ‘I’ll f-ing kill you.’” Arteche said. “When he first pointed to me, it looked like a gun. But then, when it goes sideways, and he’s shaking like this, I can see it’s bowed.”

She said it appeared the driver had a 15-pound compound bow with arrows in his hands, and an arrow appeared to be in the bow.

Arteche said she let him pass her, but then she followed him to get a license plate number and called 911 to pass the information on to police.

Pasadena police found the car at an apartment building nearby and then spotted the driver.

Gabriel Cobo, 25, admitted there had been an altercation but denied owning the bow or making a threat.

“Officers were a little suspicious based on what the female told them, so they actually went to an apartment that he was there to visit, talked to some friend,” Pasadena police Lt. Tom Warnke said. “They said, ‘Yeah. He admitted he was in road rage incident. He had a crossbow and dumped it in a dumpster by South Houston (Branch) Library.’”

Police recovered the bow and charged Cobo with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony.

His bond is set at $1,000. As of Wednesday evening, Cobo was still behind bars.

“I would like to see him stay in jail, cause he’s obviously the type of person that doesn’t care about anybody else,” Arteche said.