- Police arrested a woman for murder after she shot her Uber driver in El Paso, Texas.
- Phoebe Copas said she thought the Uber driver was kidnapping her when she saw a sign for Mexico.
Police in El Paso arrested a woman for murder earlier this month after they said she shot and killed her Uber driver.
She said she thought he was kidnapping her. He wasn't, a police investigation found.
Phoebe Copas, a 48-year-old from Kentucky, had been in the Texas border town visiting her boyfriend when, on June 16, she called an Uber to take her to the casino where she planned to meet him, local affiliate KFOX-TV reported.
Daniel Piedra Garcia, 52, picked her up in his Uber and drove her toward her destination that afternoon. Copas told police that during the ride, she saw a sign for "Juarez, Mexico" and concluded that Garcia was kidnapping her and taking her to Mexico, according to an arrest affidavit cited by KFOX.
"At some point during the drive, Copas thought she was being taken into Mexico and shot Piedra. The investigation does not support that a kidnapping took place or that Piedra was veering from Copas' destination," the El Paso police said in a press release.
Copas used a revolver to shoot Piedra in the head and wrist, prompting the vehicle to crash into a concrete barrier on the highway, according to local ABC News affiliate KVIA-TV. She texted a photo of the situation to her boyfriend and then called 911, the outlet reported.
The location of the shooting is not near a port of entry, and the highway is a typical route to Copas' casino destination, police told KVIA.
Piedra was hospitalized but died days later after his family withdrew life support, KFOX reported. Police jailed Copas on a charge of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, which was later upgraded to murder.
An attorney listed for Copas did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on Sunday.
Didi Lopez, Piedra's niece, said stereotypes about Mexico and the border may have played a role in her uncle's death.
"They make assumptions, they see stuff maybe on the news, maybe on social media, and stuff that's not necessarily true, and when they come here, they come without really knowing," Lopez told local CBS affiliate KDBC-TV.
"I miss him, and I wish this wouldn't have happened to him," Lopez added.
Erroneous assumptions have played a role in a series of US shootings in recent months. In April, a teenager in Kansas City was shot in the head after he rang the doorbell at the wrong house. And a 20-year-old woman in New York was shot and killed after the vehicle she was in pulled into the wrong driveway.