Mark Anthony Aguirre charged with aggravated assault

Mark Anthony Aguirre

A former Houston Police Department police captain was indicted Tuesday for allegedly shooting an innocent AC repairman with a gun over a baseless voter fraud allegation that Hispanic kids are signing ballots. Mark Anthony Aguirre, 64, faces a more serious charge of assault with a deadly weapon, records show.

“According to Aguirre, he conducted a four-day follow-up of the victim under the assumption that the victim was the mastermind of a giant scam, and that there were 750,000 fraudulent ballots in the truck he was driving.” Harris County Attorney’s Office speak. “Instead, the victim turned out to be an innocent and normal air conditioner repairman.”

According to prosecutors, Aguirre rammed his SUV into the back of the victim’s truck to force him to stop during the October 19, 2020 incident, but the repairman stepped out, but Aguirre did pointed a gun at him, pressed him to the ground and rested his knee on the man’s back, authorities said.

The DA office said there were no votes in the truck – only air conditioning parts and tools.

Aguirre received $266,400 from the right-wing group Liberty Center for God and Country to do his work, authorities said.

“He crossed the line from dirty politics to commit a violent crime and we are fortunate no one was killed,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg (D) said. “His alleged investigation has gone back from the original – first alleging a crime happened and then trying to prove it happened.”

Repairer David Lopez-Zuniga sued right-wing activist Dr. Steven Hotze in March, blaming him for funding and directing Aguirre’s actions.

“Dr. Hotze funded a project to investigate allegations of voter fraud,” said Hotze attorney Jared Woodfill told KTRK. “What an independent contractor chooses to do is not Dr Hotze’s responsibility any more than if you or I hire an investigator or a contractor to do something for us and in doing so, they did something inappropriate.”

Aguirre was fired from the Houston Police Department in 2003 for his role in a street racing raid where 278 people were arrested.

[Image via Houston Police Department]

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