Texas woman allegedly fatally shot Uber driver because she thought she was being kidnapped
06/26/2023 12:01 pm PDT
EL PASO, Texas (TCD) -- A 48-year-old Kentucky woman is accused of fatally shooting an Uber driver she alleged was kidnapping her and taking her to Mexico.
According to El Paso Police, on June 16 at 2:19 p.m., officers and paramedics responded to the southbound I-54 at exit 20 for a report of a shooting and found 52-year-old Daniel Piedra Garcia suffering from a gunshot wound. Police said Piedra picked up Phoebe D. Copas from the city’s west side and drove her to Mission Valley. During the trip, however, Copas allegedly "thought she was being taken to Mexico and shot Piedra."
El Paso Police began investigating and found the evidence "does not support that a kidnapping took place or that Piedra was veering from Copas' destination."
Medics transported Piedra to a local hospital in critical condition and police arrested Copas on a charge of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. Piedra died from his injuries June 22, and police upgraded her charge to murder.
The El Paso Times reports Copas was in town from Tompkinsville, Kentucky, visiting her boyfriend. Court documents cited by the paper report Copas noticed signs on the freeway for Juarez, Mexico, and that reportedly led Copas to believe she was being taken across the border.
Copas reportedly took a shotgun from her purse and struck Piedra in the back of the head. After shooting him, Copas allegedly took a picture of Piedra, texted it to her boyfriend, then called 911. When police arrived at the scene, she dropped the gun.
Piedra was put on life support at University Medical Center of El Paso until his family decided to remove him from it due to the level of brain damage.
Piedra’s niece Didi Lopez told the El Paso Times doctors informed the family "that his brain was destroyed, but that there was a percentage of his brain that was still functioning, but that was going to be his status forever. He would need to be on life support forever. There was nothing that they could do. There was nothing."
Copas is being held in the El Paso County Jail on $1.5 million bond.
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