According to police, a Kentucky woman has been accused of fatally shooting her West Texas Uber driver after mistakenly believing she had been kidnapped and taken to Mexico.
Phoebe Copas, 48, remained jailed in El Paso, Texas on Sunday after being charged with the murder of 52-year-old Daniel Piedra Garcia last week.
The shooting took place around 2 p.m. on June 16 as Piedra Copas was driving to a location in southeast El Paso.
According to authorities, Copas, who is from Tompkinsville, Kentucky, was in El Paso to visit her boyfriend.
While driving, Copas saw road signs that read “Juárez, Mexico,” according to an affidavit. El Paso is on the US-Mexico border across from Juárez.
Copas believes she was kidnapped and taken to Mexico and, according to the affidavit, is accused of taking a pistol from her purse and shooting Piedra in the head.
Phoebe Copas, 48, of Kentucky, was arrested in El Paso, Texas, and charged with murder for allegedly fatally shooting her Uber driver, Daniel Piedra Garcia
Daniel Piedra Garcia, 52, was driving to a location in southeast El Paso to visit her boyfriend but saw signs that read “Juarez, Mexico,” leading her to believe she was kidnapped
Copas is seen being put away on a stretcher after the incident
The vehicle he was driving crashed into guardrails before coming to a stop on a freeway.
A police affidavit said the area where the car crashed was “not in close proximity to any bridge, port of entry or other area with direct access to entry into Mexico.”
“The road Copas traveled is a normal route to the destination requested by the Copas.”
“The investigation does not show that a kidnapping took place or that Piedra strayed from the Copas’ destination,” police said.
Police allege that before calling 911, Copas took a picture of Piedra after the shooting and texted it to her boyfriend.
When police arrived at the scene around 2:20 p.m., they found Copas being helped out of the car by her boyfriend.
Center Ana Piedra, wife of Daniel Piedra Garcia, is comforted by family and friends during a vigil for her husband who was fatally shot while driving for Uber
Ana Piedra, wife of Daniel Piedra Garcia, wipes away tears during a memorial service for him
Friends, family, community members and fellow Uber drivers gathered to commemorate Piedra
She dropped everything she was holding on the floor, including a brown and silver pistol. Video captured by CBS4 shows Copas being taken away by ambulance.
Piedra was found slumped in the driver’s seat of the car after being shot in the head.
He lay in the hospital for several days before his family removed his life support after doctors told them he would not recover.
“He was a hardworking man and really funny,” Piedra’s niece, Didi Lopez, told the El Paso Times.
“He was never in a bad mood.” “He was always the one who, when he saw you in a bad mood, came up to you and tried to lift you up.”
The family understands that Piedra completed his last ride of the day when he picked up Copas.
The family understands that Piedra completed his last ride of the day when he picked up Copas
A GoFundMe campaign set up by Piedra’s family reported that he was her sole breadwinner and had only recently returned to work after injuring himself at his previous job
Police are investigating an overpass following the shooting that killed Piedra
“He picked her up but time passed and so his wife called him and called him and texted him and he didn’t answer the phone. “And then she started calling everyone else,” Lopez recalls.
“They called all the hospitals and tried to find out if he was there. And then someone had mentioned the article about the shooting of an Uber driver. They called the El Paso police and told them it was him. And so we go to the hospital. That’s how we found out.’
Copas, who is being held on $1.5 million bail, was originally charged with aggravated assault, but the charges were upgraded to murder following Piedra’s death.
A GoFundMe campaign started by Piedra’s family reported that he was her sole breadwinner and only recently returned to work after injuring himself at his previous job.
“I wish she would have spoken up, asked questions and not acted on the spur of the moment and made a reckless decision because not only would she have ruined our lives, she would have ruined hers,” Lopez said.
“We were originally told that the lady saw the sign on the freeway that said it was Mexico,” she explained.
“She panicked and thought my uncle was going to kidnap her.” And so her instinct was to shoot him, and she shot him multiple times in the head.”
“We just want justice for him.” That’s all we ask.’