Chop shop worker shoots and kills man looking for friend’s stolen truck, Texas cops say

Lauren Liebhaber

May 8, 2024 at 4:37 p.m.·1 min read

A man was shot and killed on May 6 while searching for his friend’s stolen truck at a chop shop, Texas authorities said.

Shawn Mireles, 21, jumped the fence of a private property “known in the community to be a chop shop and dumping ground for stolen vehicles and stolen vehicle parts,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Sgt. Michael Ritchie called the property a “junkyard auto-type business” in a media briefing shared by KRIV.

Mireles believed his friend’s stolen truck was possibly at the location, according to the sheriff.

Once inside, he was confronted by 49-year-old property manager Jorge Zuniga-Martinez, who was armed with a gun, Gonzalez said.

“(Mireles) apologized, attempted to retreat and leave,” but Zuniga-Martinez “still shot him multiple times,” according to Gonzalez.

Mireles was pronounced dead at the scene, law enforcement said.

Zuniga-Martinez, who remained on site following the shooting, was arrested on a murder charge and booked at the Harris County Jail on a $200,000 bond, court records show.

McClatchy News reached out to Zuniga-Martinez’s attorney for comment on May 8 but did not immediately hear back.

He is due back in court June 11.

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