HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Chi Nguyen, a well-known personal injury attorney, helped apprehend a suspect who broke into his family home on Monday.
The Houston Police Department told ABC13 that when officers responded to the residence on Telephone Road near Beatty on the southeast side, they found the intruder had been shot.
Attorney Nguyen doesn’t live in the home, but his family does. A large billboard advertising the Pusch and Nguyen law firm sits right on the corner of the front of the home.
According to police, Nguyen wasn’t the one who shot him, but a witness said he did hold the suspect down until officers got on the scene.
“I am in my apartment, and I just hear gunshots, and I look out the window,” Francisco Saldana, who lives nearby, said.
The gunshot Saldana heard came from the Nguyens’ family home.
Nguyen and his partner, Anthony Pusch, are known for their clever advertising slogan, “We push, you win.” Their billboards populate many of Houston’s roadways.
On Monday, in broad daylight, Nguyen’s family member shot an intruder.
Houston police said it was an act of self-defense because the man charged at him with a metal object.
Saldana said he missed all of that but did see the aftermath, which included Nguyen holding the suspect down in the middle of the street.
“At first, he was holding him. He didn’t want to go down, but then eventually, I think another guy came and helped pull him down, and then they got on top of him,” Saldana recalled.
Houston police said the suspect, 40-year-old Rene Blanco, was taken to the hospital and is expected to be OK.
“I couldn’t believe it, you know? Like in the middle of the day, you never really thinking that something is going to happen, but you know, Telephone Road is getting kind of crazy now. You don’t know what to expect. You got to always be on your toes out here,” Saldana said.
Saldana not only lives around the area, but he also runs a food truck down the block.
According to ABC13’s Neighborhood Safety Tracker, there have been 100 burglaries over the past year in this area of southeast Houston.
The rate of crime is always in the back of Saldana’s mind.
“We always require at least two or three vehicles to be turned on with the lights on when we are closing. We’ve done that all the time, and knock on wood, nothing has happened,” Saldana said.
Blanco, who a family member said tried acting as a delivery driver to get inside the home, is now facing burglary charges.
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