Teen shot in the head in road rage attack in Houston on life support in critical condition

Suspect follows father and two sons for five miles before firing into back of pickup after exchanging ‘hand gestures’

Gustaf Kilander
Washington, DC
Thursday 08 July 2021 15:49 BST
Teen shot in the head in road rage attack in Texas

A 17-year-old boy was shot in the head during a road rage attack after a baseball game in Houston, Texas.

David Castro is reportedly on life support and his condition was listed as critical overnight. The father, Paul Castro, and his other son – who was also in the car at the time of the shooting – were not injured.

David was in the passenger’s seat when Mr Castro and his two sons left the Astros baseball game around 11pm on Tuesday in their father’s pickup truck.

According to police, Mr Castro said a white sedan followed their vehicle for five miles after he “exchanged hand gestures” with the driver.

Police said the driver of the white sedan fired “several shots at the father’s truck, striking one of the male passengers at least one time”.

Mr Castro told police he drove away to a separate area where he called 911. Law enforcement has not yet identified a suspect but said the vehicle was a white, four-door, Buick sedan with a sunroof.

Mr Castro told KHOU11: “David was one of the good guys. He was set to be a National Merit Semi-Finalist. He loved percussion and was planning on playing in band in college.

“He was such a gentle person, he befriended kids who didn’t fit in, like himself. He was a nerd who embraced being goofy. He would have added to our world and made it better. Instead, the world took him too early, in a senseless and meaningless way.”

“He didn’t deserve to get shot,” Mr Castro added. “He is innocent. There are no words to convey the deep pain our family feels.”

“I hope his killer reads this and understands that he may have killed the future man who could’ve made the world better for his own kids,” Mr Castro said.

The latest update from Houston Police said that David Castro is on life support.

“It doesn’t make any sense for anybody on the streets, getting engaged in any sort of situation that you have to revert to pulling a gun and started shooting,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

“The reality is if it happened this time it can happen again. But there’s far too much road rage that’s occurring and we’re only going to stop it when people start turning these people in,” he added.

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