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A man was killed in northwest AustinThis month tried to defend his stepdaughter from her former work colleague who followed her home, police said.
Aaron David Garza, 18, was charged with murder in the shooting of 35-year-old Joshua Cooper on July 12, according to an affidavit released Monday. The indictment is a first degree crime that can be punished with up to 99 years in prison.
The incident took place in Block 10200 of Missel Thrush Drive in a Part of Austin, which is in Williamson County. Austin Police received calls at 10:35 p.m. on July 12, the affidavit said, for shooting and screaming.
When the officers arrived, they found Cooper lying on the street with multiple gunshot wounds to his torso. He died on the scene. Nearby, police found Cooper’s wife and stepdaughter, who had repeatedly hit Garza with a gun, the affidavit said. Cooper’s wife and stepdaughter were taken to a hospital.
Cooper’s stepdaughter told the hospital police that she knew Garza because he was a Cashier at a HEB grocery store on Lakeline Boulevard and US 183, where she also worked as a cashier, the affidavit says. She only knew Garza by his first name and rarely spoke to him, the police said.
Garza “would tell her things that she found strange,” says the affidavit. She told police that Garza stopped working in the shop in May and has not seen him since.
Police later spoke to a HEB supervisor who said Garza had shown “inappropriate behavior towards other employees”, according to the document. It was not said what this behavior was.
Cooper’s stepdaughter said that after quitting her job at HEB. around10 p.m. On July 12, she noticed a car following her home, the affidavit said.
As she turned into the driveway of the house where she lived with her parents, the driver of the car, later identified as Garza, blocked her in the driveway by parking perpendicular to her, police said.
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Garza got out of his car and walked over to her while she was still in her car. according to the police. The affidavit said the stepdaughter then called her parents and told them that someone she didn’t know followed her home.
Garza started walking around her car and looking at the tires. “He said something that he was looking for his tracker,” the affidavit reads.
When Cooper and his wife got outside, Cooper asked Garza what he was doing, police said. Garza kept saying he was looking for his tracker, so Cooper told his wife to call 911, the affidavit said.
It said before Cooper’s wife could call 911, she heardShots. She saw Garza shoot Cooper several times, according to police, while Cooper was standing next to his stepdaughter’s car.
Cooper was running down the street when Garza followed him and fired more shots until Cooper fell on the street, the affidavit said.
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Garza then approached the closed driver’s side window of the stepdaughter’s car, aimed his gun at her and began to pull the trigger several times, but the gun would not fire, police said.
The stepdaughter said it was the first time she saw Garza’s face and realized he was her former colleague, the affidavit reads.
She opened her door, pushed Garza away, and ran, but Garza caught up with her and, according to an affidavit, hit her with his pistol.
Cooper’s wife, who is the girl’s mother, tried to intervene by standing between Garza and her daughter, police said.
Garza hit Cooper’s wife on the head with the gun so hard that it broke, the affidavit said.
Neighbors came out on the street and one was spraying pepper spray in Garza, police said. Garza ran back to his car and left, the affidavit says.
The video from an outside surveillance camera at the Coopers’ home showed Cooper standing on the edge of the driveway talking to Garza, who then, according to the affidavit, drew a gun and fired several times at Cooper. It also revealed that Cooper was running away, police said.
A detective later found a tracking device under the stepdaughter’s car, police said.
A relative declined to comment on Cooper on Monday.
According to public records, he owned a welding business. A GoFundMe page was started to help his family at bit.ly/3xX8FZ2.
Garza was held in the Williamson County Jail on Monday with bail set at $ 750,000 for murder charges and $ 1 million for two cases of aggravated assault.
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