Houston road rage killing suspect arrested after days on the run

A Houston man accused in a road rage slaying was arrested and jailed Thursday, after nearly a week at large.

Dietrich Thomas allegedly shot and killed 29-year-old Eric Starr early Saturday following a drawn-out dispute on the side of a road in Katy.

The 22-year-old was already facing charges for an unrelated shooting earlier this year, when he allegedly shot a man after a party. He was let out on $40,000 bond in February, about a week after the shooting.

The fight that spilled over into gunfire Saturday morning started in the 21900 block of Morton Ranch, where Starr and his wife were driving north from Interstate 10 in their silver Toyota.

Just after midnight, Starr cut off another driver. That driver – later identified as Thomas – started following the couple’s car and eventually pulled up beside them at a stoplight, according to court filings.

According to Starr’s wife, the man behind the wheel of the black Charger claimed he was a gang member and that her husband was just a “white boy from Katy” so he wasn’t going to do anything. The man allegedly pulled out a gun, but then got back in his car.

Both cars drove away, but the Charger continued following the Starr’s vehicle. Worried that the Charger would follow them all the way home, the Starrs decided to pull over and Eric got out of the car.

He told his wife to drive away if the situation escalated into a confrontation. But almost immediately, the Charger pulled over and the driver jumped out, allegedly tackling Starr then shooting him one time in the chest as his wife watched from the car.

When paramedics arrived, they rushed Starr to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Katy, where he died.

The suspected killer fled, and Sheriff Ed Gonzalez later asked the public for help locating the man he described as armed and dangerous.

Now, records show Thomas was booked into jail early Thursday. He’s facing one charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for the earlier shooting, and a murder charge in connection with the Saturday slaying.

He hasn’t yet been formally assigned counsel for the road rage case, but the lawyer representing him in the earlier shooting framed both incidents as self-defense.

“Mr. Thomas used a weapon defending his family at his home in the aggravated assault and was chased in a road rage incident on the shooting that resulted in a young man’s death,” said attorney Tyrone Moncriffe. “Mr. Thomas turned himself in and we fully intend to challenge these charges in court.”

Thomas is due back in court Thursday afternoon for a probable cause hearing on the murder charge.