Family rallies after 18-year-old man shot to death by Galveston officer

GALVESTON, Texas (FOX 26) - "I'm never going to see my baby again," said Blanca Granado in Spanish.

18-year-old Luis Argueta's family admits he had run-ins with the law and even spent time in prison. But they say he didn't deserve to die.

"He was a really good guy," said Jelldy Argueta. "He was funny and made everybody laugh. He was my little brother."

It started out as a routine traffic stop at around 3 a.m. on June 25. 

Officer Derrick Jaradi, a two-year veteran with the Galveston Police Department, was responding to a suspicious vehicle in the 5300 block of Avenue L.

"My brother got out of the car with a big magazine in front of him and one of the cops saw he had his gun between the magazines and he started running," said Jelldy.

Luis Argueta was reportedly shot twice, once in the back.

"They're saying they found a gun at the scene but they have not released where," said Jelldy. "I don't know if it was in the car or next to him."

"Some people are saying he pointed the gun at their feet, not at their body."

Argueta said she asked for the officer's body camera footage and was told she had to file an open records request to obtain it.

Friends and family say the body camera video could answer a lot of questions.

"That would answer why you shot him," said family friend Nicole Lujan. "Where did he have the gun? Where did he run? Did he point the gun?"

The Galveston County Sheriff's Office, which is conducting an investigation into the shooting, told FOX 26 News that no one was available to discuss the case.