Activists want the diner who shot and killed an armed robber at a Houston taqueria this month to face charges for what they say was an act of self-defense that turned into “overkill.”
“He had a right to defend himself, he had a right to protect himself, he had a right to use deadly force, but he went beyond that,” activist Quanell X said during a Sunday press conference outside the taqueria, a Mexican restaurant specializing in tacos and burritos. “When he stood over that young man and pumped bullets after bullets after bullets into him — that’s overkill; that’s no longer self-defense.”
Quanell X and other activists want a grand jury to indict the male diner for his actions at Ranchito #4 on Jan. 5.
That day, the man many have described as a “good Samaritan” shot and killed 30-year-old Eric Eugene Washington while he was leaving the restaurant after robbing its customers at gunpoint.
Washington was headed for the exit when the diner unloaded four shots into Washington’s back. After Washington fell to the ground and lay there, the diner came over and fired an additional five shots into the robber, including one into the back of his head.
It turned out the gun Washington was brandishing during the course of the robbery was a fake, police said after the fact.
Quanell X also said the diner dumped his drink on Washington’s body and threw the cup at him as he was leaving the taqueria.
“At the least, it’s called abuse of a corpse; that’s a misdemeanor crime in Harris County,” he said.
Corine Goodman, Washington’s mother, also believes the diner went beyond the scope of the law.
“If you had to kill him, I can deal with that. I can come to grips with that. He did something wrong, I understand that,” she told KRIV, the Fox affiliate in Houston, last week. “But for him to be shot four times in the back leaving and when he falls down and he shoots him four more times. He abused him.”
Houston police called on the diner, who has not been identified, to come forward in the aftermath of the shooting. He has been cooperating with police through an attorney since then.
“In Texas, a shooting is justified in self-defense, defense of others and defense of property,” the man’s attorney said in a statement to KTRK, Houston’s ABC affiliate.
Washington was an ex-con who was out on bond during the attempted robbery.
In 2015, he was convicted on a lesser charge of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and given a 15-year sentence in connection to the shooting death of 62-year-old Hamid Waraich, a cellphone store owner, according to records cited by KTRK.
Washington was paroled in 2021 but later charged with assaulting his girlfriend this past December.
“Eric was an evil criminal that took joy in harassing and robbing innocent families. The individual at the taqueria is a true hero,” Sean Waraich, the victim’s son, told KTRK about Washington’s passing. “He did the right thing in stopping the robber and in protecting the community from a dangerous perpetrator.”
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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