Noel Espronceda (left inset) in a Facebook photo, (right) a man pictured entering the victim’s home before the shooting (KPRC2/screengrab)
A Houston, Texas, truck driver was shot and killed at home early Sunday in front of his wife and two young children in a case local police are initially investigating as a deadly home invasion perpetrated by “three male suspects” in ski masks.
Noel Espronceda, just 35, was shot overnight at the Castlecreek Lane residence where he, his 5-year-old and 6-year-old children, and his wife had been sleeping prior to the 2:30 a.m. report of gunfire.
According to Houston Police Department Det. David Higgs’ account of the case on KHOU’s cameras, Espronceda was found dead at the scene with “multiple apparent gunshot wounds.”
Higgs said three unidentified males wearing ski masks and black clothing are preliminarily suspected of carrying out a home invasion and slaying. But the detective on scene said it did not appear that any items were missing from the residence or that there were signs of a “physical fight.”
“Nothing was taken from the home that we can tell at this point,” Higgs said, in a remark that led some to wonder whether this was a targeted killing. “I don’t see any evidence of a physical fight inside the house.”
The children, the youngest of whom witnessed the shooting of their father, both have autism, KHOU reported.
The local CBS affiliate said that Espronceda’s stepdaughter spoke anonymously of her shock that her loved one, who seemingly “did not have enemies” and had recently gotten home from work, has now lost everything.
“Everyone is feeling low because when this happens to someone who did not do anything to anyone, with someone who is a good dad, good son, good friend, good brother, you feel like you have no idea. You feel bad,” she reportedly said.
While Det. Higgs said cops don’t see a broader threat to the public, locals are unnerved that the suspects with a presently unclear motive are not in custody — especially in light of surveillance footage from outside of the home prior to the shooting.
The footage aired by KPRC showed one man opening the passenger door of a truck outside of the residence around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, shutting the door, and then leaving the property. Roughly an hour later, the video showed, one man came back to the house and the lights outside turned off. A short time later, as that man ran away from the scene, two other men could be seen in the background entering the home.
