Police said the victim and a younger sibling were burying their guinea pig, Cookie, in their yard when he was shot three times in the back.
HOUSTON — The family of an 18-year-old boy shot and critically injured while burying a pet is frustrated that the alleged gunman, a neighbor, hasn’t been arrested.
Emmanuel Menchaca, who was just weeks away from heading to college, was shot in the back three times in his front yard while trying to bury Cookie, the family’s guinea pig.
It happened around 12:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 17, at his home on Belgard Street north of Bellfort Avenue in the South Park area.
“They are going through the unimaginable,” Cesar Espinosa, the executive director of FIEL, told KHOU 11. “This happened in a place where a family is supposed to feel the safest.”
According to family members, Emmanuel’s 12-year-old brother witnessed the incident and identified the family’s neighbor as the alleged shooter.
Two weeks later, Emmanuel remains at Ben Taub Hospital, and his alleged shooter is still free in the home next door.
“The family says they don’t feel safe to go back to the home right now,” Espinosa said.
The family contacted the civil rights nonprofit because they say they’re not getting answers from the Houston Police Department and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
KHOU 11 reached out to both HPD and the DA’s office, but we were told only that, “this remains an open investigation.”
“The family is hearing the same thing,” Espinosa added. “At this point, there are more questions than answers.”
Now, Espinosa and the Menchaca family are turning to the public for support and urging community members to demand accountability.
“For all people, the ask is simple,” Espinosa said. “Why hasn’t anyone been arrested?”
‘I’m not going to make it’
The morning of the shooting, Emmanuel’s mom told KHOU 11 that he came into her bedroom and was bleeding.
“He said, ‘Mom, I love you, Dad, I love you, I’m not going to make it,'” Andrea said. She asked us not to show her face or use her last name.
She didn’t understand why her son was shot.
“He buried the guinea pig on my property, never stepped foot, never laid a hand on the resident’s property,” Andrea told us. “He needs to be in custody, he needs to be questioned.”
If you have any information about what happened, you’re asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477) or HPD.
Watch the update HPD gave at the scene: