HOUSTON – Authorities are trying to piece together what led up to a deadly shooting late Tuesday night after they said a man found his brother left for dead.
ALSO UNDER INVESTIGATION: Property owner shoots 2 alleged copper wire thieves in north Houston
It happened sometime before 12:45 a.m. when the Houston Police Department said officers were called to a convenience store on Calumet Street near South Freeway and Brays Bayou.
Preliminary information officials gathered is that an unidentified man in his 30s was working at the store, pressure washing restaurant equipment outside, when a gray/silver truck pulled up and exchanged words with the driver.
“My employee called me around 1230and he said one of the guy he working in the kitchen and he got shot,” said Nick, the manager of the corner store. “He was just hired to clean the vent here.”
The victim was a contractor working for the restaurant that shares the space with the convenience store, OMG Seafood.
SEE ALSO: ‘You wanna get killed?’ Woman bumps into car at red light, pulls a gun and threatens the man she hit
Police said the truck driver then got out of the vehicle, and more words were exchanged, but it’s unclear what the discussion was about. At some point, things became heated, however, because the driver shot the man before getting back into his truck and taking off.
Shortly afterward, investigators said the man’s brother came outside to find the worker shot. He later died from his injuries.
“Shame on you. You’re not God. Who are you to take anybody,” said Paula, a regular customer. “Somebody will notice who he was.”
Family identified the man as 32-year-old Jimmy Arevalo.
KPRC 2 Reporter Corley Peel spoke with Arevalo’s brother, Anthony Arevalo. Anthony said he and Jimmy were best friends who did everything together. The brothers even owned a contracting business together. He said the were about to call it a night when someone shot and killed Jimmy outside the OMG seafood store. Anthony said he rushed outside after hearing people yell about shots being fired.
“It was terrible. My baby brother, just to see him in a pile of blood. He tried to speak but because of all that blood he couldn’t,” said Anthony.
Anthony Arevalo said his brother does not know the shooter and does not have any enemies. His only guess is the shooter could have been upset over then noise from the pressure washer. He said it is a complaint they have had in the past while out on jobs. HPD has not announced a motive and has not said if the shooting was random or targeted.
“We were just working. Minding our own business, trying to make a living. My brother is a humble person,” said Anthony.
Anthony said Jimmy always liked to help people.
“He’d never say no if somebody needed help. He’ll always smile and everybody knew him because he was so outgoing guy. It’s gonna break me and I know it’s gonna break my two kids because they love their uncle so much.
Detectives are working several leads, but no one has been identified as a suspect.
“I hope they find this person. I hope this person gets what is deserved by the law because this person cannot be out there,” said Anthony.
