A woman from Kentucky has been charged with murder after allegedly shooting her Uber driver in West Texas.
According to police, Phoebe Copas mistakenly believed she was being kidnapped and taken to Mexico, leading her to fatally shoot 52-year-old Daniel Piedra Garcia.
Copas, 48, is currently being held in El Paso, Texas, and no attorney has been listed to speak on her behalf.
The incident occurred on June 16 as Piedra was driving Copas to a location in far southeast El Paso. Copas, who was visiting her boyfriend in El Paso, saw traffic signs that read “Juarez, Mexico.” She wrongly believed she was being kidnapped.
She then grabbed a handgun from her purse and shot Piedra in the head, causing the vehicle to crash into barriers before coming to a stop on a freeway.
Despite the area where the car crashed being far from any entrance to Mexico, police say that the investigation does not support that a kidnapping took place or that Piedra was veering from Copas’ destination. Before calling 911, Copas allegedly took a photo of Piedra after the shooting and texted it to her boyfriend.
Piedra was hospitalized for several days before his family took him off life support after doctors told them he would not recover. Piedra was the sole provider for his family and had only recently started working again after being injured in his previous job.
Copas was originally charged with aggravated assault and is being held on a $1.5 million bond. The charge was upgraded to murder after Piedra died. A GoFundMe campaign set up by Piedra’s family is seeking justice for him.