Senseless Killing
Cold-blooded Walmart murder triggers police manhunt: Teen shooter still on the loose, bloody scene left behind
Police in Stafford are on a manhunt for three men connected to an argument which led to the fatal shooting of a father outside a Walmart on Wednesday night.
An arrest warrant has been issued for 19-year-old Antonio De La Cruz, who is considered to be armed and dangerous by authorities. Police are actively working to identify the other two individuals involved in the incident, according to a report from KPRC Ch. 2.
Police say the victim, 35-year-old Christhian Eduardo Cardoza, was waiting in his vehicle as his family shopped inside the Walmart Supercenter in Stafford on West Airport Bouldvard. According to authorities, his family got into an argument with three other people as they exited the store and Cardoza's teenage son called him for help.
"When I walked around there was a whole lot of blood right in front of that window. There's a whole lot of blood."
When Cardoza approached the group of people arguing, one of the suspects pulled out a handgun and shot Cardoza several times, police say.
He was reportedly shot in the neck and chest and was taken to Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital where he later died.
"Everybody had to leave their carts and anything they were shopping for, so dinner plans were definitely changed last night," Allen Joseph, a Walmart customer who was shopping when the shooting happened, tells KPRC. "There was a lot of ambulances and fire trucks and things like that."
The three suspects fled the scene in a 1995 gray Toyota Corolla with Texas license plate BRY1519.
"I was inside working register seven when I heard three shots and then I saw a guy running in, full of blood," says Yvette Gentry, a Walmart employee working in the store when she heard gunshots. "When I walked around there was a whole lot of blood right in front of that window. There's a whole lot of blood."
Shoppers were evacuated from the store while Stafford police investigated the incident. The manhunt for De La Cruz and the other two suspects is ongoing.