By JUAN A. LOZANO | The Related Press
HOUSTON — A person who had simply been robbed at gunpoint at an ATM in southeast Houston opened hearth in an try and cease his attacker however as an alternative shot a 9-year-old lady in a truck driving close by, police mentioned. The lady later died at a hospital.
Arlene Alvarez had been on life assist earlier than she died on Tuesday, her father Armando Alvarez instructed reporters.
Alvarez mentioned Arlene was sitting within the backseat of his truck and was carrying headphones when the capturing began Monday night.
“Once we had been getting shot on the first time, and I instructed them ‘get down,’ she was the one one who didn’t get down. She didn’t hear me,” Alvarez mentioned.
Tony Earls, 41, was charged Tuesday with aggravated assault, critical bodily damage, within the capturing, police introduced. He was being held within the Harris County Jail on a $30,000 bond. Courtroom information didn't checklist an lawyer who may communicate on his behalf.
Arlene’s demise was introduced shortly after police mentioned Earls had been charged. Dane Schiller, a spokesman for the Harris County District Legal professional’s Workplace, mentioned prosecutors will take a look at presumably upgrading fees towards Earls.
“Our hearts exit to the Alvarez household. We're going to assessment all of the proof, apply the legislation and decide what fees are acceptable,” Schiller mentioned.
Govt Assistant Police Chief Matt Slinkard on Monday night time known as the capturing “an unbelievably tragic occasion.”
Arlene is the second 9-year-old lady to be shot in Houston inside every week. Ashanti Grant stays hospitalized after being shot within the head throughout a highway rage assault Feb. 8.
On Monday, Earls and his spouse had been on the ATM at round 9:45 p.m. when one other man walked as much as their car and robbed them at gunpoint, Slinkard mentioned.
Because the suspect fled on foot, Earls received out of his car and opened hearth, together with at a pickup truck he thought the theft suspect had climbed into, police mentioned.
However the truck carrying a household of 5 was not concerned and had been “merely driving” down a avenue close to the ATM, Slinkard mentioned.
“It simply goes to point out, anytime that there’s weapons concerned, the hazard to harmless bystanders is extraordinarily excessive,” Slinkard mentioned.
Alvarez mentioned he was driving his household to Arlene’s favourite restaurant when the capturing occurred. He mentioned his intuition was to drive quicker when he heard the capturing begin, to get away from the scene.
“As quickly as I pace up, what are you doing? You might be already coming subsequent to him. You’re going towards the man capturing. So I suppose after I pace up, he thought I used to be with that man,” Alvarez mentioned.
Earls, who later known as police to report the theft, instructed authorities he didn't know his gunfire had hit the truck.
Police had been looking for the theft suspect. They haven't decided if that man returned hearth or was shot.
A number of youngsters have been shot this yr within the Houston space.
On Feb. 3, an 11-year-old boy was fatally shot as he walked from his house to his household’s automobile to get his coat. On Feb. 8, a 13-year-old was shot a number of instances and injured exterior a grocery retailer. On New Yr’s Day, the 4-year-old niece of George Floyd was wounded when somebody fired into her Houston house as she slept.
Earlier this month, Houston officers introduced a $44 million plan to sort out rising violent crime within the nation’s fourth largest metropolis. Like different main cities throughout the U.S., Houston has seen a rise in violent crime within the final couple of years amid the pandemic.
General crime in Houston dropped by 3.4% in 2021, together with a 12% drop in sexual assaults, an 11.4% drop in robberies and a ten% drop in burglaries.
However homicides elevated by greater than 18% final yr to 479. As of Tuesday morning, Houston police had reported 62 homicides to date this yr, a 32% enhance from the identical time interval in 2021, when there have been 47. Throughout the identical time in 2020, there have been 40.
The latest surge in homicides continues to be beneath Houston’s highest homicide tally of 701 homicides in 1981, when town was dubbed the homicide capital of the USA.
Throughout a information convention Monday asserting a $30,000 reward for info within the capturing of Ashanti Grant, Mayor Sylvester Turner mentioned officers had been set to “go the additional mile” to guard youngsters from violent crime.
“These are our youngsters and this foolishness has to cease,” Turner mentioned.
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Comply with Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70