Suspect robs man, shoots 17-year-old in knee within seconds at Greenspoint area apartment

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A 17-year-old was shot in the knee by a man who committed a robbery just seconds before in the Greenspoint area early Thursday morning, Houston police said.

The shooting happened at about 12:30 a.m. at an apartment complex on 355 Benmar Drive.

The first victim, Ehulices Aparicio, was parking when he noticed a suspicious vehicle. As Aparicio walked to his apartment, an armed man approached him and demanded his keys.

“He had a gun,” Aparicio said, his voice still shaky from the traumatic confrontation. “Luckily, I had some keys to some random car not here, and that’s why I gave him those keys.” He said he was also was ordered to give the man his phone. But once he did, he made a run for it.

“I had the chance. I turned around and ran,” he said. “I ran toward the car to see what the car looked like.”

The man took off in a gray Hyundai Sonata with heavily tinted windows.

As Aparicio called the police from a neighbor’s cellphone, he heard gunshots. Just a few feet away, the same man shot a 17-year-old named Marco who was hanging out with his family.

The bullet slightly grazed his knee and hit a nearby wall.

The 17-year-old was taken to the hospital and was released a few hours later. His relatives and mother said they are grateful that he was not seriously injured but are afraid of the robber possibly returning.

Aparicio’s phone is gone, but quick thinking is why he still has his car. He hopes police can identify the robber with the public’s help.

HPD says that it is likely that the suspect is responsible for more crimes.

“I guess they’re looking for the same person in that car because it’s not the first robbery that’s been going around here,” Apraicio said.