KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — A North Texas family is in mourning and is pleading for justice after a 35-year-old father was found shot to death in his pickup truck.
On Monday afternoon, Kaufman County deputies found Aaron Martinez in his truck that had been riddled with bullets.
Dozens of people gathered in a small parking lot on Thursday night to remember him.
“It was hard for me to come home that night when my dad was shot… to tell my brother that his dad wasn’t gonna come home tonight,” Martinez's 14-year-old daughter, April, cried to the crowd.
“Me and my dad were so excited to dance at my quinceañera, and now I don’t have him with me. So now I can’t dance with him. And he took that away from me, he took my dad away from me, he took my dad away from my brother,” April said, referencing the suspect.
Authorities said 30-year-old Trevor McEuen is suspected of killing April's father. They arrested McEuen on a murder charge after a SWAT negotiation and standoff.
“What I’m looking for is justice for him,” Martinez's father told WFAA.
The Martinez family told the crowd they knew McEuen as their next-door neighbor. And they believe he should be charged with a hate crime.
“We’re all Latinos,” Martinez's sister Ellie cried. “Our kids…what world are we living in? We should not be facing this.”
Martinez’s wife, Priscilla, told WFAA her husband was shot more than once.
“We have to have a closed casket. That’s how bad it was. It was 15-30 times. That’s hate," his wife said.
The Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office said it does not have evidence that this was a hate crime but added that the investigation is ongoing.
McEuen is being held on a $2 million bond.