Texas Man Charged with Murdering a Father Who Was Carrying Daughter's Birthday Cake Outside Chuck E. Cheese

Devastated by the death of her father, Calogero Duenes's young daughter cries and says, ‘I miss my daddy,’ according to his widow

Calogero Duenes. Photo: GoFundMe

A Texas man has been charged with murder after shooting and killing a young father in a parking lot as he carried the cake into his 6-year-old daughter's birthday party at a local Chuck E. Cheese, court records show.

Antoine Daniel Badon, 27, is charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of Calogero Duenes, 24, according to online records.

Antoine-Daniel Badon.

On Dec. 31, 2021, Duenes, his wife, Amber Uresti, and their two daughters, 6 and 3, had just gotten to Chuck E. Cheese in Humble where they planned to celebrate the 6-year-old's birthday.

Uresti and the couple's daughters went inside the kid-friendly chain restaurant first.

Duenes was making his way across the parking lot with his daughter's birthday cake when a man driving the wrong way came close to hitting Duenes, surveillance video shows, the Houston Chronicle, KTRK-TV and NBC News report.

Duenes and the driver got into a heated verbal exchange, say police.

Moments later, three gunshots were fired, a witness told police.

Duenes staggered toward the restaurant before collapsing.

"I can still hear my husband screaming in the back of my head," Uresti said, ABC4 and CNN report.

"I saw him walking towards us," Uresti told KTRK earlier in January. "I told the lady my husband was on his way. I pointed at him, and the instant I turned around, he came running in through the door and he kept saying, 'I got shot! I got shot!'"

The driver, later identified as Badon, fled the scene in the car he was driving, say police, KTRK reports.

Duenes was taken to the hospital, where he died.

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Badon was arrested on Jan. 5 and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with a separate incident, court records show. He was also charged with assault on a household member in connection with another incident, online court records show.

On Jan. 22, he was charged with murder in connection with Duenes' death, court records show.

He remains held in the Harris County Jail on a $500,000 bond.

He has not yet entered a plea, and it is unclear whether he has retained an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

Uresti is glad Badon is behind bars.

"I hope and pray that they don't release him," Uresti told KTRK.

"My three-year-old constantly says, 'I miss my daddy,'" Uresti told ABC 4. "My 6-year-old will sit in the back of the seat at times, you know, and she's in a little ball curled crying."

"It's a tragedy," Uresti told KPRC-TV. "I really can't wrap my head around it."

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for funeral expenses.