Cousins! A woman is currently facing charges of murder after shooting her Uber driver in the head earlier this month as she believed she was being kidnapped!
According to PEOPLE, the tragic incident is currently under investigation by the El Paso Police Department in Texas. Officials state that Phoebe Copas was never under any actual danger.
Sources state on Friday, June 16th the 48-year-old woman had been in town from Kentucky to meet her boyfriend at a local casino after he is said to have gotten off of work. According to reports from KFox14 news, as Phobe traveled within the rides share she became worried when she saw signs for “Juarez, Mexico” near US 54 highway.
“At some point during the drive, Copas thought she was being taken into Mexico and shot Piedra,” says El Paso police alleged. Officials tell KVIA that Phobe allegedly pulled out a revolver and shot Daniel Piedra Garcia in the back of his head and wrist, then causing the car to crash. It has been stated that she took a photo of the incident and sent it to her boyfriend prior to calling 911.
“The investigation does not support that a kidnapping took place or that Piedra was veering from Copas’ destination,” state police.
The 52-year-old husband was taken to a local hospital and was ultimately taken off life support on Wednesday, June 21st. “It was just shocking, hard to believe, a lot of us had seen the news but we never even imagined, it never crossed our mind that it was going to be him,” says Piedra’s niece Didi Lopez to local news.
Didi says that stereotypes about the border and its safety are what led to her uncle’s death as Phobe assumed she was in danger. “They make assumptions, they see stuff maybe on the news, maybe on social media, and stuff that’s not necessarily true and when they come here they come without really knowing,”
“I miss him and I wish this wouldn’t have happened to him,” she said. “He didn’t deserve that, no one deserves that,” says Didi.
Daniel’s wife Ana has created a GoFundMe campaign on behalf of their family as she states he was the sole provider.
“He is the sole provider for our family and was unable to work for a while because he hurt his knee at his last job and had to have surgery on April 18, 2023. He was very happy to finally be able to work and bring home income for this tragedy to happen, today we unfortunately had to disconnect my husband as the doctors did not give any chance that he would survive, after being disconnected he sadly passed.”
Within the campaign’s description, Ana says the expenses will be used for hospital and funeral expenses.
Phone is currently being held within police custody on a $1.5 million bond.