19-year-old Daniel Herrera was shot and killed while attempting to rob a Popeye’s Chicken in San Antonio, Texas. Now his mother is speaking out against her son’s death.
“Did my son deserve to be punished? Yes, he did,” Cynthia Ruiz said in an interview with local ABC affiliate KSAT 12.
According to the police report, Herrera entered the Popeye’s on the 800 block of Southeast Military Drive with a gun in his hand. He immediately turned his weapon toward a family eating dinner and demanded their cash. When the father told Herrera that he’d spend all his money on dinner, the young robber turned his attention toward the register. Herrera had no idea that the man he had just threatened was licensed to carry a concealed weapon.
As Herrera turned, the father drew his own weapon and fired several shots, five of which found their target.
“Why did he shoot him five times?” Ruiz asks. “The gun wasn’t even loaded,” she said, repeating a claim made by the alleged getaway driver.
“Here in Texas, if you’re in fear of loss of life, loss of property, you have a right to defend yourself,” a police spokesperson later said to KSAT 12.
Watch her interview in the video below.