Wings are known and loved for coming with a bit of a kick, though normally that kick is the result of spicy peppers rather than the recoil from a pistol. At an El Paso-area Wing Daddy’s restaurant, however, the kick was of the rarer variety when an armed criminal tried robbing the wing joint and ended up dead instead.
That incident occurred on Monday, October 2, just after midnight. It was then that 24-year-old Ace Isaac De Santiago tried to rob the Wing Daddy’s. He burst in with a firearm, viciously beat the business manager, and tried making off with stolen cash.
But he did not make it far, as an armed citizen was on the scene and managed to shoot the armed robber before he could get away. Thus, when the police arrived, they found Mr. De Santiago dead outside the rear of the business, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
The El Paso Police Department released a press statement on the incident. Beginning, the statement said, “Just after midnight this past Monday, officers were called to the 11100 block of Sean Haggerty on an aggravated robbery in progress at the Wing Daddy’s Sauce House. When officers arrived, they located a 24year-old male outside the rear of the business.”
Continuing, the department added, “The decedent (offender) had suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Crimes Against Persons detectives were called in to investigate the case. The preliminary information indicated the 24year-old male committed an aggravated robbery by assaulting the business manager and stealing money from the business at gunpoint. The offender was shot after fleeing the scene.”
Ending, the statement asked for the help of those who have any information about the case, saying, “The public is asked if anyone with information regarding this case, please get in touch with police at 915-8324400 or, to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers of El Paso at 915566-8477(TIPS) and be eligible for a cash reward.”
The El Paso Times added, “The restaurant manager was not the shooter and De Santiago still had the stolen money with him when he was killed, police spokesman Officer Adrian Cisneros said. The amount of money stolen was not disclosed.”
Adding a few more details not found in the police press release, the El Paso Times noted that De Santiago’s death is currently being investigated by detectives in the El Paso Police Department’s Crimes Against Persons Unit.
Further, the local news outlet adds that there was an Ace Isaac DeSantiago arrested alongside three other men in 2017 for a violent home invasion in the El Paso area. That Mr. De Santiago, potentially the same person, was sentenced to four years in prison for the crime.
Texas has a broadly permissive view toward self-defense but always investigates self-defense shootings. Further, the defendant in such a shooting must prove that it was self-defense: “When raising an affirmative defense, you have to come up with some proof – somewhere, somehow – that this defensive theory applies. Then the state has to disprove it,” says Mille Thompson, an Austin-based defense attorney.
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