HOUSTON – Three days ago, Roderick Joseph, an employee for Ross Loss Prevention, said he was shot in the arm after he assisted a frightened elderly woman.
“My fingers are still numb. My arm is still swollen. I got two pieces in me,” Joseph said.
The Ross employee said he was helping his elderly colleague because she was being harassed by a group of teenagers at the store, which is located on Highway 6 in northwest Harris County.
“I said. ‘Why are you picking on an elderly lady? Leave her alone and stop taking stuff from her,’” Joseph said. “They asked for ski masks so they were already planning on doing something.”
Joseph said after he seemed to diffuse the situation, he walked back to the front of the store and watched the three guys and one female on the surveillance camera make their way towards the exit. He said he decided to confront the group after he saw them making signs at one another.
“He was like, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ I said, ‘Sir, you are making gang signs. What are you going to do about it?’ I said, ‘Sir, go ahead and leave,’” Joseph said.
Joseph said he helped the teens out of the store, and that’s when one of them pulled out a gun with a laser attached and pointed it directly at him.
“He was shining it at me. I knew he was going to shoot. I stepped two feet back and said, ‘Just go ahead and leave.’ And the next thing you know, he shot me,” Joseph said.
Joseph drove himself to the hospital and said he has no regrets about stepping up for a colleague who needed his help. Joseph, a husband and a father of two, is also a musician who works three jobs. He said he’s now worried about his family since he’s currently unable to work. If you’d like to help the family, his cash app is “$RocJoseph.”
Investigators are hoping to release more information about the group of teens in the coming days.