Global Courant
EL PASO, Texas — A Kentucky woman has been charged with fatally shooting her Uber driver in West Texas after mistakenly believing she was being kidnapped and taken to Mexico, police said.
Phoebe Copas was detained in El Paso, Texas, on Sunday after being charged with the murder of 52-year-old Daniel Piedra Garcia last week.
Court and prison records listed no attorney to speak for Copas, 48.
The shooting occurred on June 16 as Piedra Copas was driving to a location in far southeast El Paso. Copas, who is from Tompkinsville, Kentucky, was visiting her friend in El Paso, according to authorities.
During the ride, Copas saw road signs that read “Juarez, Mexico,” according to a statement from the arrest. El Paso is located on the US-Mexico border across from Juarez.
Believing she was kidnapped and taken to Mexico, Copas is accused of grabbing a gun from her purse and shooting Piedra in the head, according to the affidavit. The vehicle crashed into guardrails before coming to rest on the highway.
The area where the car crashed was “not near any bridge, port of entry or other area with direct access to Mexico,” the affidavit said.
“The investigation does not support that a kidnapping has taken place or that Piedra deviated from Copas’ destination,” the police said in a press release.
Police allege that before calling 911, Copas took a photo of Piedra after the shooting and texted it to her boyfriend.
Piedra was hospitalized for several days before his family took his life after doctors told them he would not recover.
“He was a hard-working man and very funny,” Piedra’s niece, Didi Lopez, told the El Paso Times. “He was never in a bad mood. He was always the one who, if he saw you were in a bad mood, would come over and cheer you up.”
Copas, who is being held on $1.5 million bond, was originally charged with aggravated assault. The charge was upgraded to murder after Piedra died.
A GoFundMe campaign set up by Piedra’s family said he was their sole breadwinner and had only recently returned to work after being injured at his previous job.
“I wish she would have spoken up, asked questions, not acted impulsively and made a reckless decision because she not only ruined our life, but her life,” Lopez said. “We just want justice for him. That is all we ask.”
(TagsToTranslate)Kidnapping
