A married father of two and a mechanic was pursued, pushed to his knees and shot dead by a group of men who got excited over a dispute over a $500 repair bill.
Luis Manuel Casillas, 29, was fatally shot in the head in Houston, Texas days before Christmas.
His sister told a local ABC affiliate that witnesses told her he got into an argument with a customer whose truck he was repairing.
Casillas, 29 (right), was a husband and father of two young girls, aged 2 and 3. He was shot dead outside his Texas auto body shop in the days leading up to Christmas
The customer, whose name has not yet been released, reportedly showed up with a group of five men at the Casillas body shop and refused to pay the money he was owed.
The situation escalated and Casillas finally told the customer to just pick up their truck and leave.
But the confrontation turned violent and Casillas ran away.
Sandy Casillas, Luis’ sister, told the outlet that her brother “went through all the side deals he could go through.”
‘You shot him in the head. (dot) empty.
“They forced him to his knees and shot him in the head,” she said.
Sandy said her brother pleaded for his life, telling the criminal group, “I’ve got a family, just take what you want.” But his pleas were ignored.
“He was a father, a son, a brother, an uncle,” she said.
He died in hospital, leaving behind a young wife and two daughters, ages 2 and 3.
Gathered at the crime scene days later, Sandy declared, “I’ll be damned if I didn’t deal with this case.”
“My brother will have his due.
“You don’t do that to people,” Sandy said through tears. “You don’t do that to animals. How do you do that to my brother?
“What they have done is not fair and if you are the mother of these six people, at least be a good mother to give up your child,” she said.
Luis’ sister Sandy Casillas tearfully opens up about her family’s first Christmas without her brother. She said he would use the $500 owed to him to buy his daughters’ Christmas presents
The young father’s daughters, who do not fully understand what happened, opened Christmas presents without their father on Sunday
Investigators are currently working to find surveillance footage that could help them better understand what transpired before the fatal shooting
Flowers and memorabilia were placed in the back parking lot of a Houston business where Casillas was gunned down two days before Christmas
Investigators are currently investigating the incident and are hoping to uncover footage of the shooting.
No suspects have been identified so far, but the family have told law enforcement officials who they believe is responsible and have passed their information on to police.
Sandy said she believes the sic suspects are younger men, although Houston police have not released an official description of the suspect or his vehicles.
Casillas had already purchased a number of Christmas gifts for his young family and planned to use the $500 to complete gift shopping for his girls.
His children, who are too young to understand what happened, unwrapped presents at Christmas without their father.
The family will hold a memorial service for Casillas on Thursday.