Calogero Duenes: Texas dad shot dead while carrying birthday cake for daughter
Calogero Duenes, a doting father of two, was fatally shot in a Texas parking lot confrontation while he was carryibg cake to celebrate his 6-year-old daughter's birthday at a nearby Chuck E Cheese. Upon analyzing the surveillance video, authorities have noticed that this unfortunate incident happened after Duenes, 24, engaged in a verbal exchange with a driver who had driven down the parking lot aisle in the wrong direction.
Duenes' two daughters, 3-year-old Marrlow and 6-year-old birthday girl Serina, were already inside in the restaurant with their mother at the time of the deadly encounter. Duenes wife, Amber Uresti said, "He ran in and he was screaming 'I got shot! I got shot!' and I ran out behind him, my daughters ran out behind me, they saw him laying on the floor."
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Duenes was immediately taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital where he died from his injuries. Police said, based on surveillance footage of the confrontation in the lot, they believe that the suspect was driving a black Ford car.
Amber said that she can't fathom what would cause someone to react with senseless gun violence when her husband was practically defenseless. "He had no weapons. He was holding my daughter's birthday cake. He had nothing on him. I don't understand why."
"It's a tragedy. I really can't wrap my head around it. Like, I'm hurt. I can't understand how someone can do that to someone that's holding a cake.
"My husband passed without me, without anybody to hold his hand, to comfort him. I want justice. I want justice for my children, for Calogero," Uresti said.
Rosemarie Urseti, Duenes' sister-in-law, started a GoFundMe page for him, where she wrote that her entire family is devastated by the tragedy. Duenes left behind two baby girls, Serina Divine Duenes, who is 6 years old, and Mallory Elizabeth Duenes, 3. She also wrote that this is not how she expected to start the new year.
Urseti said her brother-in-law and her sister have been a couple for more than a decade. Duenes was always a protector and a consummate jokester. He worked as a landscaper and helped neighbors with their lawns and household needs. Though, the neighbors insisted on paying him, Duenes wouldn't accept their money.
Urseti said, "He said: 'I don't care. I didn't have this as a kid. My kids are going to have it.
"His 3-year-old daughter is too young to understand, but his 6-year-old girl knows what happened to her dad".
She added: "Serena cried herself to sleep the other night holding her daddy's shirt saying, 'I miss dad so much'".