‘I don’t want to die in here’: Family recalls heartbreaking moment dad is shot trying to prevent a break-in
A grieving Texas mother recalled the heartbreaking moment her husband was killed in front of their young son as he defended their family from a home invasion.
On Sunday, the Dallas Police Department identified Arnold Sustaita Zapata, 26, as a suspect in the December 30, 2023, murder of 24-year-old Juvenal Antero, WFAA reported.
Antero was inside the apartment he shared with his pregnant wife, Elizabel Cardenas, and their 4-year-old son, when two people knocked on the door asking for a plunger. The strangers then barged inside and flashed a gun at the couple.
“I’m slamming the door on his hand, and I’m holding the door with all the strength that I could pull,” Cardenas told WFAA after her husband’s death. “My husband grabbed his weapon and jumped in front of my son and protected my son. They started shooting him.”
Cardenas said her husband shot back just before falling, recalling how he told her, “They hit me. They hit me. I’m going to die. I don’t want to die here.”
Antero was rushed to the hospital, where he died.
“We were his everything. We were all that mattered to him,” his grief-stricken said. “It’s hard not to have him here because he guided me through everything. He had a heart of gold.”
Days after her husband’s death, on January 3, 2024, Cardenas had a doctor’s appointment to check on their unborn baby.
“We were supposed to go hear the heart,” she said. “I’ve suffered two miscarriages. We’ve been trying for these couple of years. It finally happened…I have to welcome this new baby into the world without a father.”
Meanwhile, the couple’s 4-year-old son witnessed the entire shooting.
“My son goes to sleep crying. What am I supposed to do?” she questioned.
Dallas police say three suspects were caught on surveillance footage running away from the scene and getting into a red vehicle.
Authorities only identified Zapata as a suspect in the shooting on Sunday, nearly two years after Antero’s death. They are seeking the public’s help in identifying the other suspects and locating Zapata, who remains at large.
“I just need you guys to turn yourselves in because what you did was wrong,” Cardenas said after her husband’s death.
“No one’s life should be taken away because you wanted what we had. You’ll never have what we had or what we continue to have. You’ll never take his place,” she added.
Zapata is described as 6’2” and weighing 260 pounds with brown eyes and black hair.
The suspects should be considered armed and dangerous, according to Dallas police.
He is wanted for capital murder.
