Zach Johnson was 24 and working as a tow truck driver from Callisburg, Texas, when he was shot and killed in Lake Dallas on December 2, 2019. He had been in the repossession business about three weeks and was following a valid repossession order to pick up a car at the Best Western. The vehicle’s owner, Barry DeGeorge, fired multiple shots from a third-story hotel room window, struck Johnson while he was driving the tow truck, and Johnson later died at Medical City Denton.

Lake Dallas police arrested DeGeorge at the scene and charged him with murder; he was held in the Denton County Jail on $500,000 bond. Reports note DeGeorge had a prior history that included assault and evading arrest, and he said he believed his car was being stolen. Johnson was remembered by family, friends and colleagues as a gentle giant; hundreds of tow trucks joined a last-ride funeral procession in his honor.

If anyone witnessed the repossession at the Best Western or has information about what happened that night, please share what is known.