A judge denied bail Wednesday for a Houston man accused of killing a father of five who authorities said helped to track down his son’s stolen truck and confront the thief.
The denial of bail in connection with the chaotic chain of events on June 6 came with a caveat from Judge Te’iva Bell: Harris County prosecutors and London Hogan’s defense team must go to trial within a year.
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Hogan, 36, is charged with murder and two aggravated offenses for his role in the roadway shooting. The judge ruled he was a potential threat to community safety because of his alleged actions.
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“This happened in broad daylight,” Bell said.
She pointed out that several bystanders were visible in surveillance footage during the clash, including a woman who stood back to record video on her phone, as well as Hogan’s 15-year-old daughter. Any number of them could have been hit by a stray bullet, she said.
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“There are kids there — these are your own kids,” the judge said in her ruling.
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She also factored Hogan’s criminal history in her decision to deny bail.
The shooting followed a carjacking that unfolded after Hogan flagged down Louis Erebia’s 19-year-old son under the guise to take pictures and videos of his pickup truck that was for sale, Harris County Sheriff’s Office investigator Stephanie Hernandez testified at the bail hearing.
Hogan pulled up alongside the son, Logan Erebia, in his own truck at a gas station in the 11800 block of Tidwell and explained that he often posts videos of vehicles to his social media, surveillance footage showed.
The son allowed Hogan to get into his driver’s seat to hear the stereo, Hernandez said. Hogan then put a gun to the son’s head and told him to “get back or I will shoot you,” Hernandez added.
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Hogan and a second person, who remained in his original vehicle, drove off, leaving the son behind to call 911 to report he had been robbed of his truck at gunpoint by a man in his 50s. The security camera did not capture the interaction in the vehicle.
Within an hour, the elder Erebia and a friend of his son tracked his son’s truck — which had a GPS device — to a busy intersection at the 610 Loop and Airline Drive underpass. A security camera at a gas station there captured Louis Erebia and the friend in separate vehicles confronting Hogan in an apparent attempt to block him in. Erebia then rammed his son’s vehicle head-on with Hogan inside.
The video next showed people getting out of their vehicles, including Hogan’s 15-year-old daughter who ran to the original vehicle where her father then grabbed a gun.
Luis Eredia’s friends and family cry during a press conference at Crime Stoppers of Houston on Monday, June 8, 2026. Eredia was shot and killed in north Houston while pursuing a man believed to have stolen his son’s truck.
John Wayne Ferguson/John Wayne Ferguson/Houston Chronicle
The detective testified that Hogan struck the family friend, who survived, and then the father as they ran away.
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Hogan fled and was captured hours later following a traffic stop. He told authorities that he was test driving Logan Erebia’s truck with the plan to buy it for $20,000 in cash when another vehicle struck him, Hernandez testified.
He admitted to wielding a weapon during the shooting but claimed to have gotten it from a nearby homeless man, she said. He no longer had the gun when police arrested him. Hogan said he threw it somewhere along the highway before changing his story to say he left the gun at a bar following the shooting. Authorities never found it.
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Hogan’s defense attorney, Wilvin Carter, argued that his client acted out of self defense because the men used their vehicles at first to confront him.
The attorney asked the investigator why the family friend wasn’t charged with a crime as he and Erebia took action in their own hands — rather than relying on law enforcement to seek Hogan out. The Erebia family has stood by the father’s actions.
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Carter also expressed his discontent with a state constitutional amendment that allowed Bell the discretion to deny bail in cases involving violent crimes if prosecutors seek an evidentiary hearing, as they did with Hogan.
“I think it’s used as a tool of oppression,” Carter said. “I think Republicans put it in place to place these restrictions on judges so they are required to do their bidding.”