Texas father gunned down outside Chuck E. Cheese after dispute with wrong way driver
The distraught wife of a Texas father, 24, who was gunned down in the parking lot of Chuck E. Cheese on Friday, says she has ‘no idea’ why.
Calogero Dueñes, 24, was walking into the restaurant in Humble, Texas with his wife and two daughters to celebrate his six-year-old’s birthday when he got into a dispute with driver who almost ran him over.
Unreleased surveillance video shows a driver approach Dueñes, nearly hitting him.
An argument erupted and police say the driver pulled out a gun and shot Dueñes, then sped away in a Ford vehicle.
Dueñes’ wife Amber Uresti and their two daughters had already gone inside the restaurant ahead of her husband, who was trailing behind them carrying the cake.
Calogero Dueñes, 24, had just arrived at Chuck E. Cheese in Humble, Texas with his family to celebrate his 6-year-old daughter’s birthday when he was fatally shot in the parking lot following a dispute with a wrong way driver who nearly hit him as he arrived carrying his daughter’s birthday cake.
The Humble Police Department say the driver and Dueñes exchanged words in the parking lot of the Chuck E. Cheese before the driver pulled out a gun and shot Dueñes, then sped away in a Ford vehicle.
‘I saw him walking towards us,’ Uresti told KTRK. ‘I told the lady my husband was on his way. I pointed at him, and the instant I turned around, he came running in through the door and he kept saying, ‘I got shot! I got shot!”
Uresti said their six-year-old daughter saw her father fall to the ground.
‘He had no weapons,’ Uresti added. ‘He was holding my daughter’s birthday cake. He had nothing on him. I don’t understand why.’
Amber Uresti, Dueñes’ wife, speaks out to KTRK after he was shot last Friday. She said she was already inside Chuck E. Cheese for their daughter’s birthday when Dueñes came stumbling inside crying out, ‘I got shot! I got shot!’
Dueñes’ daughter has been crying herself to sleep at night while sleeping with her father’s shirt. He’s described by his family as a loving, caring father and husband, who was silly and playful.
The Humble Police Department say the driver and Dueñes exchanged words in the parking lot before the driver pulled out a gun and shot Dueñes, then sped away in a Ford vehicle.
Dueñes was rushed to the hospital where he died a short time later.
‘I don’t understand how someone could do something like that,’ Uresti told KHOU. ‘He was walking with a cake.’
Dueñes, 24, died after being shot Friday in the parking lot of a Chuck E. Cheese in Humble, Texas. The family has set up a gofundme to help with funeral expenses.
She added that she hopes the police can find the person responsible soon, for the safety of the community.
Uresti, who met Dueñes as a teenager, described him as a loving, caring father and husband, who was silly and playful.
‘We grew up together,’ she told KTRK. ‘Every day for the last 10 years, it’s been me and him. I really don’t know what I’m going to do anymore. It’s really hard.’
Uresti told KHOU that her her daughter has been crying herself to sleep at night while sleeping with her father’s shirt.
‘There’s nothing I can tell her,’ she said. ‘There’s no words to tell her other than, ‘Daddy is with you in your heart. He loves you.”
Police say the shooter, who is believed to be driving a black Ford vehicle, has not yet been caught. An investigation is ongoing.
The family has set up a gofundme.com account to help with funeral expenses.