Humble – Jose Gutierrez is thankful to be alive and elated investigators have identified the man they say shot the Humble man in a bizarre road rage incident. It happened last month after an altercation at a neighborhood gas station.
“He caught me off guard,” Gutierrez said.
Harris County Precinct 4 deputy constables said 33-year-old Marvin Barnette is the man seen in surveillance video approaching Gutierrez’s truck after Gutierrez came close to Barnette’s car while backing up. He didn’t hit Barnette’s car, police said that he just came close.
“He goes, ‘You didn’t hit it. You almost hit it’” Gutierrez recalled.
An apology apparently wasn’t enough, and deputies said after Gutierrez left the parking lot, Barnette got in his vehicle, followed Gutierrez for about a mile, and fired two shots at Gutierrez.
“One broke out my back window. Then the other one shot me in my left hip,” Gutierrez said. “It’s a miracle that I’m here. The doctor said it.”
Investigators identified Barnette after a citizen called in and Gutierrez was able to point him out in a photo lineup.
“We have teams of individuals out right now actually looking for him,” said Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman. “We know he’s out in our community. He needs to be taken off our streets.”
Gutierrez said Barnette should do the right thing and turn himself in.
“You can’t be out here trying to kill each other,” he said. “We got enough problems. Everybody out here’s struggling. If we just start shooting each other because we’re all in pain, it can’t help nobody.”