Grand Prairie maintenance worker checking pipes killed by person who thought he was a burglar, police say

Authored by fox4news.com and submitted by FrozenBr33ze
image for Grand Prairie maintenance worker checking pipes killed by person who thought he was a burglar, police say

A 53-year-old maintenance worker was shot and killed on Christmas Eve while checking to see if pipes at a Grand Prairie apartment complex had burst.

Cesar Montelongo was checking the pipes at the Clayton Point Apartments on Alouette Drive, where several pipes had ruptured.

READ MORE: Burst pipes from arctic blast causing Christmas issues for people across North Texas

Grand Prairie police say Montelongo was on a resident's balcony at around 6 p.m. when the resident spotted him.

According to police the resident thought his apartment was being burglarized, grabbed a gun and shot the Montelongo through the window.

The 53-year-old was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Image 1 of 3 ▼ Cesar Montelongo (Courtesy: Montelongo Family)

READ MORE: Man dressed as woman allegedly took photos of women in restroom, pulled pepper ball gun at Hulen Mall

The resident stayed at the scene and is cooperating with detectives.

No arrests have been made at this time.

The case is under investigation and Grand Prairie detectives will refer the case to the Tarrant County grand jury for review.

Montelongo leaves behind 5 sons and a wife. Christmas was set to be his 29th wedding anniversary.

oasisjason1 on December 27th, 2022 at 13:56 UTC »

Aren't burglars in your house? Who just shoots random outside people through the window?

SpaceTabs on December 27th, 2022 at 12:17 UTC »

This wouldn't be justified even if he was a burglar. You can't just smoke someone in a multi-tenant dwelling.

zakats on December 27th, 2022 at 07:03 UTC »

I used to deal with him in a previous profession. Cesar was professional, down-to-earth, kind, hard-working, and an overall pleasure to work with in an industry full of unsavory people.

This sucks, the guy worked hard to take care of his residents. We talked once about how people would be crazy sometimes and that guns in the hands of 'the crazies' were a real hazard.