Erick Aguirre, 29, appeared in court Thursday for a felony murder charge in the killing of 46-year-old Elliot Nix on a Houston street where witnesses saw the shooting unfold, according to court records.
The witness heard a gunshot and then “observed the suspect nonchalantly walking back to his car with the gun in his hand,” according to the affidavit. Another witness who found Nix bleeding in the street called 911.
Before the couple walked into a restaurant, they were informed by a restaurant employee that they had been scammed, the affidavit says. A witness who saw Aguirre’s initial interaction with Nix told police he then saw the defendant sprint to his car, grab a gun and run after Nix who was out of his view, according to the court documents.After leaving the scene, Aguirre put the gun in his car and walked back to where his date was waiting, then they entered the restaurant, according to the affidavit. The woman on the date later told police she did not see or know about the shooting at that point, the affidavit states.
A Texas man who was allegedly scammed of $40 in parking fees while on a date shot and killed the man who posed as the lot’s attendant — and then “nonchalantly” walked away to proceed with his dinner plans, court records show.On the evening of April 11, Aguirre paid Nix $40 after the victim claimed he was the parking attendant and said that it would cost $20 to park Aguirre and his date’s cars, according to a Harris County probable cause affidavit.
Following the shooting, Houston Police released a surveillance photo showing Aguirre and his date together, asking for the public’s help with identification. The woman in the photo contacted police and voluntarily testified against Aguirre, police said.
Police arrested Aguirre on 25 April in Aransas county, Texas, roughly 200 miles south-west of Houston, where he lived and worked as a crane operator. Nix’s killing was not the first time Aguirre has been accused of acting violently – he had previously been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2017.What started as a date at a Texas burger joint earlier this month ended with one of the participants going to jail after allegedly murdering someone else over $40 and carrying on with the rest of the date as if nothing happened, according to authorities. On 11 April, after Aguirre and the woman parked their cars, Nix – posing as a parking attendant – approached them in a lot across from Rodeo Goat in Houston and told them that it would cost $20 each to park their cars. Nix claimed they would get their money back if they returned from dinner with a receipt. Aguirre got cash from a nearby store and paid $40 to Nix. The woman who was on the date with Aguirre was “shocked to see a photo of herself on the news and to hear that she was a person of interest” in the investigation, her attorney, Rick DeToto, told the Washington Post. DeToto said that his client voluntarily spoke to police after she saw the photos, leading to Aguirre’s arrest. She will not be charged in connection with the shooting and was “devastated” to learn of Nix’s death.Nix was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. Local prosecutor Michael Hanover told reporters on Thursday that Nix was allegedly shot in the back.
Aguirre then reportedly returned to the Rodeo Goat, insisting to his date “everything was fine”, the Washington Post reported. Houston police later arrested Aguirre on a count of murder after releasing surveillance photos of him to the local news as they investigated what they are calling only the latest instance in the US of a relatively petty dispute escalating into deadly gun violence. He allegedly returned his gun to his car and went back to the restaurant to resume his date. Police said that Aguirre and the woman soon left, however, after Aguirre “started to look uncomfortable” being at the restaurant. First responders were soon called out to the scene of the shooting, and Nix was pronounced dead. Police noted in a press release that Nix and a man later identified as Aguirre “were involved in an argument that escalated into a shooting”.Erick Aguirre, 29, stepped away from a dinner date he had with a woman to grab a pistol from his car and shoot 46-year-old Elliot Nix dead after Aguirre learned from a restaurant employee that he had been scammed by a fake parking attendant, investigators have said.
Once the pair were told that Nix had been a “known parking scammer”, Aguirre allegedly left the restaurant, sprinted to his white Cadillac, retrieved a gun and chased after Nix. The Washington Post reported that witnesses heard a single gunshot and told police that they saw Aguirre “nonchalantly walking back to his car with the gun in his hand”.
However, he added that the use of firearms is only permitted if the suspect has reason to believe that he is in physical harm’s way. Scheiner blamed the killing on the wide availability of firearms, as well as a lack of knowledge regarding gun laws.As per the Associated Press, Erick Aguirre was out on a date on the day of the murder. The couple had visited an area near Lamar Street in Houston. They parked their cars separately before they were approached by Elliott Nix, who told them he was a parking attendant and asked for a total of $40.
Grant Scheiner, a Houston Criminal Defense Attorney, said that Aguirre’s lawyer will most likely claim that the use of deadly force was justified since the suspect was scammed.
After the slaying, Aguirre put his pistol back in the car, before returning to his date. His date, however, was not informed that he had just murdered Nix. The suspect supposedly told his date that he had only scared the fake parking attendant.CBS reported that Aguirre went to a nearby corner store, where he retrieved the cash. Afterwards, he went with his date to a restaurant called Rodeo Goat, where a waiter informed them that a scammer was suspected of impersonating a parking attendant in the area.
Realizing that Nix had stolen from him, Aguirre went to his car, grabbed a pistol and pursued the supposed scammer. An employee at a nearby smoke shop said that Aguirre proceeded to fatally shoot Nix, before leaving his body on Chartres street.
Click2Houston reported that a warrant for Erick Aguirre’s arrest was issued on April 15. He was taken into police custody on Tuesday, after being arrested in the Corpus Christi area.“The problem is that guns are just so widely available and there’s a lot of misinterpretation on when you can use deadly force,” Scheiner said. “You have a lot of guns and not very much knowledge.”An employee at a nearby smoke shop later told police he saw Aguirre run back to his car, grab a pistol and go after Nix. The employee said both men went out of his view but he heard a gunshot before 8 p.m., then saw Aguirre “nonchalantly walking back to his car with the gun in his hand” before putting the gun back in his car. Aguirre then walked back to the restaurant and went inside with his date, according to the affidavit.Nix’s fatal shooting comes after several high-profile incidents around the U.S. where nonviolent situations — going to a mistaken address, getting into the wrong car or going into a neighbor’s yard to retrieve a basketball — devolved into shootings. Houston criminal defense attorney Grant Scheiner, who’s not affiliated with the case, said that under state laws related to protection of property, Aguirre’s attorney will likely be able to make an argument that the use of deadly force was justified. But the circumstances related to this case, including retrieving a weapon when there was no immediate danger and then continuing with one’s dinner after the alleged shooting, will not help Aguirre, Scheiner said.Erick Aguirre appeared in court Thursday on murder charges in the April 11 death of 46-year-old Elliot Nix. His bond was set at $200,000. His attorney, Brent Mayr, declined to comment.Police say Aguirre and his date had parked their vehicles near the downtown restaurant when Nix approached them, saying it would cost $20 each to park their cars, according to a probable cause affidavit.“She wanted to do the right thing. She wanted to make sure that she came forward and told the police what she knew,” Rick DeToto, the woman’s attorney told NBC affiliate KPRC of Houston.
In 2021, Texas lawmakers approved legislation allowing people to carry handguns without a license, and the background check and training that had gone with it.
Aguirre, 29, allegedly told his date “everything was fine” and that he just scared the man after returning to the Rodeo Goat restaurant from the parking lot. They then started walking to a table but left to eat someplace else after Aguirre looked uncomfortable, according to court records.
HOUSTON — A Texas man on a date who paid $40 to park, only to learn inside a Houston burger joint that he was scammed, allegedly went back and fatally shot the man posing as an attendant and then returned for dinner, according to court records.
Court records say the woman told police Aguirre started to look uncomfortable after they went back into Rodeo Goat and suggested they eat somewhere else. That’s when they left and went to another location to eat.
That’s when Aguirre sprinted back to his Cadillac while the woman stayed on the other side of the street. She told police she didn’t see what he was doing or hear anything.HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A suspect accused of killing a man in Houston’s East End earlier this month allegedly chased him down and shot him after he was told the victim was a fake parking lot attendant, according to court records.
In an interview with police, the woman said she was in Houston to spend time with Aguirre because they were dating. They were going out to eat at Rodeo Goat.
The witness then told police he saw Aguirre walk back to his car nonchalantly and put the gun away before walking back to the restaurant and meeting back up with his date.
She said she parked her car in the lot across the street and Aguirre parked his white Cadillac nearby in the same lot. That’s when she told police they were approached by a man who claimed to be a parking attendant.
On April 11, officers responded to a shooting in the 1300 block of Chartres Street just before 8 p.m. At the scene, officers found Nix unresponsive with a gunshot wound.Erick Aguirre, 29, is charged with murder in the shooting death of 46-year-old Elliot Nix. Aguirre was arrested in Aransas County, Texas, and extradited back to Harris County on April 25.
Witnesses reportedly told police the suspect sprinted back to his car and grabbed a pistol after he learned the parking attendant he just gave $40 to was a scammer.
When the couple walked into the restaurant, the woman said an employee told them the man is a known scammer and doesn’t actually work for the parking lot, court records said.
According to court records, a woman seen in surveillance photos with Aguirre reached out to Houston police via her attorney after she saw she was a person of interest in the case.
The woman said the man told Aguirre it would be $20 per car to park, but if they brought out their receipt after eating, they would get their money back, records say.Court records say he was on probation in South Texas near Corpus Christi for aggravated assault at the time of the shooting. Police said Crime Stoppers tips helped investigators identify him.
The witness said he saw Aguirre run out of Rodeo Goat and back to his Cadillac, where he retrieved a pistol. He said Aguirre ran out of his view, but he heard one gunshot, records say.
According to investigators, Nix and Aguirre got into an argument and Aguirre pulled out a gun and shot Nix before fleeing in a 2015-2019 pearl white Cadillac CTS or ATS.Police say Aguirre, 29, and his date had parked their vehicles near the downtown restaurant when Nix approached them, saying it would cost $20 each to park their cars, according to a probable cause affidavit.
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Aguirre, who lives near Corpus Christi, located about 200 miles (320 km) southwest of Houston, was arrested earlier this week. He remained jailed Thursday.
Authorities say a Texas man paused his dinner date to fatally shoot an individual who had allegedly posed as a parking attendant and scammed him out of $40
“She wanted to do the right thing. She wanted to make sure that she came forward and told the police what she knew,” Rick DeToto, the woman’s attorney told KPRC.HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas man on a date who paid $40 to park, only to learn inside a Houston burger joint that he was scammed, allegedly went back and fatally shot the man posing as an attendant and then returned for dinner, according to court records. This undated mugshot provided by the Houston Police Department shows Erick Aguirre, who was charged with murder in the April 11, 2023, death of 46-year-old Elliot Nix. Authorities allege the Texas man paused his dinner date to fatally shoot Nix, who had allegedly posed as a parking attendant and scammed him out of $40. (Houston Police Department via AP)Uncredited An employee at a nearby smoke shop later told police he saw Aguirre run back to his car, grab a pistol and go after Nix. The employee said both men went out of his view but he heard a gunshot before 8 p.m., then saw Aguirre “nonchalantly walking back to his car with the gun in his hand” before putting the gun back in his car. Aguirre then walked back to the restaurant and go inside with his date, according to the affidavit.Harris County court records show that Nix faced two misdemeanor charges from 2022 – for criminal trespassing and theft of less than $100 – at the time of his death. He had multiple prior criminal convictions dating back to 2006, including for theft and trespassing, according to court records.
Posted on · The lawsuit, filed in Harris County court by Georgia resident Titania Davenport, claims negligence on the part of five companies and seeks more than $1 million in damages related to her son’s shooting death.
Tags Cy-Fair High School high school graduation houston livestock show and rodeo murder rodeo scholarship rodeohouston scholarships Texas A&M Wyatt LewisIf Aguirre is released from jail on bond, he is required to wear a GPS monitor and be under continuous house arrest, except for work, according to court documents, which show he also must remain at least 25 miles away from the “Greater Houston area” except when meeting with his defense counsel. Posted on · Wyatt Lewis, 18, who was largely raised by his aunt and uncle in Cypress, was selected to receive a $20,000 scholarship from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The woman with whom Aguirre was on a date on the night of April 11 hired an attorney and arranged a voluntary interview with the Houston Police Department after it released surveillance footage of the two in the aftermath of the shooting, according to the probable cause affidavit. Statements made to police by the woman and other witnesses, along with surveillance video from nearby businesses, led to Aguirre’s arrest, court documents show.
Corpus Christi-area resident Erick Aguirre, 29, faces a murder charge in the April 11 shooting death of 46-year-old Elliot Nix, who allegedly was pretending to be a parking lot attendant when Aguirre and his dinner date paid him $20 apiece to park in a lot just east of Downtown Houston, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Harris County court. Aguirre, who is alleged to have returned to his date in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, was arrested Tuesday in Aransas County and then transported to Harris County, where he remained in jail as of Thursday afternoon.
The woman who was with Aguirre on the night of the shooting has not been arrested or charged with any crimes in connection to the incident, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Nix was conscious and laying partially in the road in the 1300 block of Chartres Street when he was found by another person, according to court documents, which show Nix later died at a Houston hospital.
