On January 26, 2024, 19-year-old Otarion Lomax of Houston was fatally shot on the Southwest Freeway near Hillcroft Avenue in what police describe as a road rage incident. Lomax, a recent Westbury High School graduate who hoped to become a crane operator, had been returning from bowling with friends when a gray or silver Toyota Tundra began tailgating their vehicle. The truck’s driver, identified as 42-year-old Oscar Vasquez-Guzman, pulled alongside, words were exchanged through open windows, and Vasquez-Guzman allegedly fired multiple shots into the car.

Lomax was critically wounded in the head and died after surgery the following day. Two female passengers, ages 18 and 19, suffered non-life-threatening leg and foot injuries; the vehicle’s driver was uninjured and took the victims to a nearby hospital. Houston police used license plate readers and victim cell phone footage to locate the suspect’s vehicle. Vasquez-Guzman was arrested January 30, 2024, charged with murder, and had bond set at $100,000 with house arrest and a GPS ankle monitor; an immigration hold was also placed.

The shooting prompted an expansion of the Houston Police Department’s Safe Roadways Initiative, with multiple agencies increasing enforcement; officers reported issuing over 200 citations and making several arrests in the days after. If anyone witnessed the shooting or has information about that stretch of freeway that night, please come forward.