A Houston mother and her young children were subjected to a terrifying home invasion by two men posing as DoorDash drivers, according to local authorities. The incident, which took place on Tuesday morning, escalated when the suspects shot a responding police officer in the leg.
The mother, known only as Nicole, was confronted by two men wearing surgical masks and carrying a red DoorDash bag at her front door. Upon informing them that they had the wrong address, the men forced their way into the home and began to ransack it, according to Nicole’s father, Ben Bates.
Bates recounted the harrowing ordeal, stating that the men zip-tied his daughter and had her walk them through the house in search of valuables. The children, aged one and three, were present during the incident but were not harmed.
A neighbor who witnessed the crime alerted the police. Two officers arrived at the scene to find Nicole and one of her children in the living room, with the suspects still inside the house. As one of the suspects, identified as Michael Perez, was being apprehended, the second suspect emerged from a bedroom and opened fire, hitting Officer S. Durfee in the leg.
Durfee, a nine-year veteran of the Houston Police Department, returned fire but did not hit the suspect, who was later identified as Raymond Perez. Raymond Perez fled the scene but was apprehended a block away from the house.
A third suspect, Brian Garcia Chavez, was arrested approximately six hours later after he was seen driving away from the scene. Raymond Perez is now facing charges of aggravated assault against a public servant, aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, and unlawful carrying of a weapon. Michael Perez, 38, and Chavez, 18, have been charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.
Despite the arrests, the family is still reeling from the traumatic event. “I’ve never experienced anything like this in my lifetime,” said Bates. “But I can’t imagine what my daughter is going through right now.”