Left inset: Jorge Arbaiza; background: McDonald’s where he was fatally shot (KHOU). Right inset: Antoine Ridge (Harris County Sheriff’s Office).
Texas grandfather Jorge Arbaiza, 61, was just trying to pick up Happy Meals at a McDonald’s for his grandchildren when he got caught up in an unrelated dispute between two groups, according to Harris County authorities and his wife. One of the bullets fatally struck him.
His wife, Teresa Arbaiza, was with the two children in their car and called him after she saw an armed man, heard gunshots, and witnessed people running for safety out of the restaurant, according to CBS Houston affiliate KHOU. She could not enter the restaurant, or else leave the scared children behind.
“I’m dying. I’m going to die’” he reportedly said in his final words to her on March 16. His wife said he had been shot five times.
Arbaiza’s final act was to make the sign of the cross and pray as he died, authorities said.
