A GoFundMe campaign for an Uber driver who authorities say was fatally shot by a woman who mistakenly believed she was being kidnapped has surpassed $70,000.

The shooting occurred on June 16 when Daniel Piedra Garcia, 52, was driving a woman to a location in southeast El Paso, Texas. El Paso police said the woman, Phoebe Copas, shot Piedra because she thought she was being taken to Mexico.

"The investigation does not support that a kidnapping took place or that Piedra was veering from Copas' destination," the police said in a news release.

Piedra was hospitalized for several days, but his family took him off life support last week after doctors said he would not recover.

The GoFundMe page was set up by Piedra's wife to collect money to pay for hospital and funeral expenses. By early Monday, the total stood at $70,735.

In a post on the page, Ana Piedra said her husband was the family's only source of income and had recently returned to work after being injured at his previous job.

"He is the sole provider for our family and was unable to work for a while because he hurt his knee at his last job and had to have surgery on April 18, 2023," Ana Piedra wrote on the page. "He was very happy to finally be able to work and bring home income."

Piedra's niece, Didi Lopez, told the El Paso Times that he was a "hardworking man and really funny."

"He was never in a bad mood. He was always the one that, if he saw you in a bad mood, he'd come over and try to lift you up. Such a funny, caring and hardworking man."

Newsweek has contacted Piedra's family for comment via GoFundMe.

Copas, who is from Tompkinsville, Kentucky, was originally charged with aggravated assault, but the charge was upgraded to murder after Piedra died.

Piedra picked her up at around 2 p.m. on the city's West Side and was taking her to the Speaking Rock Entertainment Center to meet her boyfriend, the Times reported, citing an arrest affidavit.

At some point during the ride, Copas saw traffic signs that read "Juárez, Mexico," which led her to think that Piedra was trying to kidnap her and take her across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The affidavit says Copas grabbed her handgun from her purse and shot Piedra in the head, causing the vehicle to crash into barriers before coming to a stop on a freeway.

The area where the car crashed was "not in close proximity of a bridge, port of entry or other area with immediate access to travel into Mexico," the affidavit stated.

The affidavit said that before calling 911, Copas took a photo of Piedra after he was shot and texted it to her boyfriend.

Copas was booked at the El Paso County Jail on a $1 million bond. It was not clear if she has an attorney who could speak for her.

Newsweek has contacted the El Paso Police Department for comment via email.

Uncommon Knowledge

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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