Texas man excuses himself mid-date to murder parking lot scam artist

It was a balmy Tuesday night in Houston, Texas when 29-year-old Erick Aguirre took a date out to the Rodeo Goat. They each took their own cars, and parked near one another in a lot in east downtown, just a few blocks from the restaurant. A 46-year-old man named Elliot Nix approached the couple, claiming to be a parking attendant, and told them that they had to pay $40 to park their two cars there.

Begrudgingly, Aguirre complied … but when he and his date got to restaurant, their waiter advised them to look out for a middle-aged dude matching Nix's description, who the waiter said had been running a parking lot scam.

At that point, Aguirre turned to his date and excused himself. He went back outside to the car, grabbed a gun, and killed Nix, before returning to the restaurant for dinner. According to his date's testimony, Aguirre claimed that he had simply gone to spook the guy who'd scammed them; he then proceeded to consume a delicious hamburger, before ultimately saying that he felt uncomfortable at the restaurant, and leaving.

Aguirre's date didn't realize what had happened until the next day, when Houston police released surveillance images.

From the local Houston news affiliate:

"The penal code in Texas, and in 49 other states, and in most civilized countries, doesn't give you any legal basis to shoot and kill someone who ripped you off," KPRC 2 Legal Analyst Brian Wice said. "This could have been theft by false pretense. But regardless of whether or not it was, the penal code, not to mention common sense, says that you can't use deadly force."

[…]

According to court documents, the date continued hours into the evening, and within 24 hours, two Crime Stoppers tips identified the couple.

She voluntarily interviewed with police on April 13.

"She wanted to do the right thing. She wanted to make sure that she came forward and told the police what she knew," DeToto said.

Aguirre was ultimately arrested, and is currently in jail with a bond set at $200,000. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he had a previous charge for aggravated assault, for which he was already on probation. Clearly, if America wants to prevent these kinds of tragedies from happening again, we need more …*checks notes* … parking regulation?

Man returns to date after shooting fake parking attendant to death over $40, records show [Erick Aguirre / Click 2 Houston]