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Messiah Pickens-McCoy, right inset, was sentenced for the killing of Gregory Sharretts, left inset. (Dashcam video and Pickens-McCoy’s mug shot via Houston’s ABC affiliate KTRK-TV/YouTube; Sharretts’ photo from his obituary)
A Texas man was sentenced to 40 years in prison after admitting to killing a beloved restaurant owner and grandfather in a road rage shooting caught on a dashcam video.
Messiah Pickens-McCoy, 26, learned his fate after pleading guilty to the murder of Gregory Sharretts, 67, on Highway 3 in Texas City on Jan. 26, 2022.
Sharretts and Pickens-McCoy had both tried to turn into the same lane at the same time, which angered the defendant. Pickens-McCoy fired several shots at Sharretts’ truck, with one bullet striking Sharretts in the back of the head, The Galveston County Daily News reported. Dashcam caught the violence.
“The video clearly shows a hand holding a handgun extending out the driver’s window of Pickens-McCoy’s car and several shots being fired,” the District Attorney’s Office said, according to the newspaper.
An officer heard the gunshots, spotted a vehicle speeding at over 100 mph, chased it and ultimately arrested the driver — Pickens-McCoy. Police found a 9 mm Glock pistol and a spent shell casing near the windshield wipers, the newspaper reported.
The victim’s widow, Dee Byrd-Sharretts, spoke about the senselessness to Houston ABC affiliate KTRK.
“He drowned in his blood after the bullet ricocheted through his head,” she told the outlet. “This is just a nightmare, so surreal. Our family’s lives will never be the same. Our youngest grandkids will never know what a generous, creative, and energetic man he was.”
“Messiah stole precious time from Greg, and in turn deprived family, and the community of an ever creative, and ever generous, loving man. There’s absolutely nothing to be done that would be enough. My Greg is never coming back,” Byrd-Sharretts said. “There’s just an empty, empty space that can never be filled.”
Sharretts’ obituary said he first got into the restaurant business in 1995 and brought his passion for hospitality and delectable cuisine to the community of Bayou Vista with the Bayou Bistro in 2006.
“Greg was excellent in the kitchen and had a perfectionist approach, testing and refining his recipes over time,” the obit read. “He took tremendous pride in his restaurants and loved to see friends and patrons enjoying the food and atmosphere he created.”
