Four Charged in Murder of Katy-Area Man

By George Slaughter

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has charged four people with murder following the shooting death of a Westminster Village subdivision resident.

One of them, Joe Argueta, 19, is in custody. The other three are wanted: Margarito Alcantar, 29; Florinda Argueta, 39, and Luis Argueta, 45, according to an HCSO news release.

At about 11:35 p.m. Monday, deputies and Cy-Fair EMS responded to a shooting in the 17100 block of Hilton Hollow Drive, which is in the Westminster Village subdivision northeast of Katy. They found an abandoned dark gray Dodge Challenger with multiple bullet strikes on the passenger side. The car had swerved off the road, ending up in a yard. The driver, Eddie Clark, 29, exited the vehicle and fled the scene on foot before collapsing. Deputies said Clark lived in the subdivision and was returning home from work. Cy-Fair EMS examined Clark and said he had been shot.

Clark was taken by Life Flight to Hermann Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Deputies located Florinda Argueta and her son, Joe Argueta, at the scene. Florinda Argueta told deputies she had filed several reports with the sheriff’s office regarding people damaging their home and vehicles. She told deputies they suspected a teenage Hispanic male friend of her son’s ex-girlfriend was responsible for the damage.

One report listed a black Dodge Charger as a possible suspect vehicle. At approximately 11:30 p.m. Monday, Joe Argueta spotted what he believed to be the suspect vehicle driving in the neighborhood. Argueta family members tried to block a dark gray Dodge Challenger on the roadway with their own vehicles. Two male family members approached the Challenger on foot. One male was armed with a baseball bat and the other male with a pistol. When the Challenger attempted to flee, the male with the pistol fired multiple gunshots at the passenger side of the Challenger. At the scene, Joe Argueta told deputies he was the person armed with the pistol and fired the gunshots at the vehicle until it crashed.

Joe Argueta was transported to the Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit, where he provided investigators with a statement. Florinda Argueta was interviewed at the scene and released. Two other members of the Argueta family fled the scene before deputies arrived. They were identified as the father, Luis Argueta and the uncle, Margarito Alcantar. After obtaining witness statements and reviewing surveillance video captured near the shooting, deputies filed murder charges.

Clark was not known by the Arguetas and was driving a dark gray Dodge Challenger, not a black Dodge Charger. Investigators did not receive any information that Clark was involved in the ongoing dispute.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit is investigating Clark’s murder. If anyone has information on the investigation or the location of the subjects, they are asked to call the Homicide Unit at 713-274-9100 or call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).