ABC News/KTRK(HOUSTON) — A father of two young boys was shot and killed Sunday when he acted as a Good Samaritan and tried to save a woman who had a gun pulled on her in a mall parking lot but ended up being shot by the assailant himself.
The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon at the Deerbrook Mall in Humble, Texas, when officers were alerted to a disturbance in the mall’s parking lot of a man reportedly pulling a gun on a woman he was with.
When officers responded, however, the suspect began to run. Brian Marksberry, who was with his wife and witnessed the altercation, decided he couldn’t stand by and sprang into action.
“‘Somebody’s gotta get this guy’… That’s exactly what he said. ‘Somebody’s gotta get him,'” said Marksberry to his wife before he tried to intervene, one of Markberry’s family members told ABC News’ Houston station KTRK.
The suspect allegedly took off on foot and Marksberry began chasing him in an effort to aid the police. But when Marksberry caught up with the suspect, the man fired on and hit the father of two.
Officers then began firing on the suspect who had just shot Marksberry, striking him as well.
Marksberry was immediately transported to Kingwood Hospital where both he and the man who shot him later died from the injuries they suffered in the shootout.
“I know he had a heart of gold and he helped anywhere he could but today just shouldn’t have been the day,” said Jacqueline Marksberry, the victim’s mother, through tears.
“I just miss him,” she continued. “And now I’m not going to get the phone call every day that I always got … My baby’s gone.”
Marksberry was a son, a brother, a husband and a father to two young children, just 3 and 8 years old.
“He was the best father anybody could ever want,” his mother said. “He loved his children. He always went out, done things with them, played ball … I’m never going to see him again.”
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