Ghost hunters awarded $2.8 million after man shot at them in Texas
- Seven young people were shot at while searching for a local legend in 2020.
- The group escaped without physical injury but suffered severe trauma.
- A civil court has ordered $2.8 million in damages to the plaintiffs.
- Attorney says there was no evidence the group had been trespassing or causing harm.
The incident took place in Willacy County in 2020 when a group of seven, then teenagers, set out to find a site known locally as the Devil’s Lagoon. The outing turned violent when the occupants of two vehicles were fired upon by a man parked at the roadside, and the group managed to flee without being struck. Five years later a civil jury has awarded the survivors $2.8 million in damages.
The teens had been chasing a legend in the area and recount the eerie local lore in their own words. “Legend goes that when you go out there at night or whatever, that you can hear like the trots of a carriage, like over the water,” said Slade Gutierrez, one of the group members. That search brought them onto rural roads late at night where visibility and context were poor.
The encounter escalated when they approached a stationary vehicle and were waved down, according to one survivor. “We were going down the road, and we came up on a parked car on the side of the road, and he waved us down,” said Arturo Joseph Sayas, another of the group. Moments after the interaction began, the man allegedly produced a firearm and opened fire toward the group.
Those in the cars describe a terrifying scramble to escape an otherwise unexplained attack. “I was terrified,” said Slade. “It was probably the most terrified I’ve ever been in my life. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that kind of terror, that kind of emotion in general. It was so intense.” The shots did not hit anyone, but the psychological impact was profound.
The plaintiffs brought a civil case seeking compensation for the danger and trauma they endured, and the court sided with them. “The shooting happened on El Toro Road, which is a public road – a county road,” said Ryan Solis, the boys’ attorney. “And there was no evidence that they had been trespassing, that they had been stealing anything, destroying crops, shooting animals – nothing, nothing at all.” “That’s what was so wild about it. There was really no justification whatsoever for the shooting.”
This ruling underscores the legal exposure that can follow violent confrontations on public roads, regardless of local legend hunting. For more on the original reporting see Valley Central and the discussion thread linked below.
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