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2 arrested, charged with killing Arlington man during test drive
The family of an Arlington father murdered on a test drive to sell a car says his father had moved the family from Iraq to the U.S. for a safer life.
ARLINGTON, Texas - The Arlington Police Department arrested and charged 2 people with the shooting and killing of a man who was taking them on a test drive.
The family of an Arlington father murdered on a test drive to sell a car says his father had moved the family from Iraq to the U.S. for a safer life.
Two men are now jailed for last month's murder of 55-year-old Khudhair Hamdan.
And now that police have suspects in custody, the victim's family feels more comfortable about discussing what happened.
Arlington police say GPS tracking and cell phone records confirm the two teenaged suspects were together at the time of the murder.
The victim’s family has been in Iraq since the murder to bury the 55-year-old and trying to make sense of their loss.
Homicide detectives utilized cell phone records and surveillance video when tracking down the two people they say killed an Arlington father of six while he was attempting to sell a car last month.
Luis Gutierrez, 18, and Cristian Saucedo, 19, now face capital murder charges after Arlington police say the two men shot and killed Hamdan.
Hamdan’s son tells FOX 4 he was the one trying to sell his purple charger on Facebook Marketplace. But he wasn’t able to meet up with the potential buyers. So his father offered to do the test drive instead from his home.
During the drive, police say Hamdan was shot inside the car and then left on Port Richmond Way.
Investigators located the purple Charger abandoned at a shopping center off Matlock Road.
"Later, we were able to retrieve their faces from the surveillance cameras," said Arlington Police Sgt. Courtney White.
Surveillance video shows the suspects being picked up in a black Charger.
Khudhair Hamdan
According to an arrest affidavit, cell phone records obtained by investigators placed the suspects where Hamdan was found fatally shot and also where the purple Charger was ditched.
"Once they retrieved the cell phone number using the messages between the suspect and the victim, they were able to trace it to a location in Dallas," White said.
On April 5, investigators spotted the black Charger the two were last seen outside the Dallas home, which turned out to be stolen.
Dallas police conducted a traffic stop where people inside the car began to throw guns out the window.
Gutierrez was arrested. He was already wanted as a suspect for a 2019 robbery in Dallas.
Police say Saucedo was able to run from officers, but those close to Saucedo later identified him to police using this still frame of the 19-year-old in a black ski mask.
Arlington man killed while taking potential car buyers on test drive, police say
Detectives say 55-year-old Khudhair Hamdan was helping a family member sell a car through a social media app and agreed to take a potential buyer for a test drive.
U.S. marshals arrested Saucedo Friday at his Dallas home.
"It helped a little bit, but nothing is going to help because we lost our dad," said Jasim Gasim, the victim’s son.
The two arrests bring a bit off closure to Hamdan’s family, who have been in Iraq since his murder.
"The reason why we came to the U.S. is to be safe," Gasim said. "My dad brought us there to be safe, and now my dad was killed there, too. I don’t know where we should live."
"If you are attempting to sell anything or purchase anything, please do it at one of our four police stations where it is safe," White said.
Guiterrez is in the Dallas County jail facing unauthorized use of a vehicle, evading arrest and the capital murder charge.
Saucedo remains in the Tarrant County jail also with a capital murder charge.
The U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force arrested Saucedo in his Dallas home on Friday, April 7.
"Mr. Hamdan was simply trying to help a relative sell a car – and now his family’s entire world has been turned upside down," said Arlington Police Chief Al Jones in a statement. "Violent offenders like these, who are willing to kill a man for a vehicle they abandoned a few minutes later, have no place on our streets. I’d like to thank our Homicide Unit for the dedication and effort they put into this investigation. I hope these arrests provide some sense of relief to Mr. Hamdan’s family and to the Arlington community."
Arlington Police encouraged community members buying and selling items on social media to make exchanges at safe zones outside the department's patrol stations.