HOUSTON (AP) - The Latest on the arrest of a suspect in the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old girl in Houston (all times local):
12:05 p.m.
A prosecutor says a drive-by shooting that killed a 7-year-old Houston girl happened after two men mistook the car she was in for one belonging to individuals they had fought with at a club hours earlier.
Details about what prompted Jazmine Barnes’ fatal shooting were made public during a brief court hearing Monday for 20-year-old Eric Black Jr.
Authorities believe Black, who is charged with capital murder, was driving the SUV from which the shots were fired Dec. 30.
Black didn’t say anything during the brief hearing.
His attorney, Alvin Nunnery, asked the judge to bar investigators from interviewing Black.
After the hearing, prosecutor Samantha Knecht declined to comment on the other suspect in the case, who is believed to be the shooter.
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9 a.m.
A man arrested in connection to a drive-by shooting that killed a 7-year-old girl is scheduled to make his first court appearance in Houston.
Prosecutors have charged 20-year-old Eric Black Jr. with capital murder in the death of Jazmine Barnes, who was killed while in a car with her mother and sisters on Dec. 30.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez announced the charge Sunday. Gonzalez said a second suspect has been identified, but he declined to say if the person was in custody. He says both suspects are black.
Gonzalez says the killing was a case of mistaken identity and not a hate crime, as had been asserted by some people in the community. Jazmine was black, and authorities initially said the suspected shooter was a white man.
Black is scheduled to appear in court Monday.
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12 a.m.
Activists are praising Houston area law enforcement for pursuing a tip that led to the arrest of an African-American man in the fatal drive-by shooting of a 7-year-old black girl.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez announced Sunday that prosecutors had charged 20-year-old Eric Black Jr. with capital murder in the death of Jazmine Barnes on Dec. 30.
Gonzalez says the killing was not a hate crime, as asserted by some in the community, but a case of mistaken identity.
He says a second suspect has been identified, also black, but declined to say if the person is in custody.
The tip came from a New York-based social activist and writer who had helped raise money for a reward leading to information in the case.
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