Updated.. Suspect charged with murder of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes in case of ‘mistaken identity’ 2nd man in custody

(TIML NEWS) LaPorsha Washington, the mother of seven-year-old Jazmine Barnes who was fatally shot in a drive by shooting in Texas on Sunday (Dec. 30, 2018), is speaking up in the wake of her family’s recent tragedy.

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A 20-year-old man has been charged with capital murder in the death of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes, who was shot in the head when a gunman opened fire on her family’s car in Houston last week in what investigators believe was a case of “mistaken identity.”

Jazmine was in the back seat of her mother’s car when a vehicle pulled up alongside and opened fire on Dec. 30.

In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Jazmine’s father, Christopher Cevilla, said he was “confident” police have captured the men responsible for his daughter’s death.

“We haven’t had the chance to sit down and really mourn the death of our daughter,” Cevilla said. “So, that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to mourn her and we’re going to get through this as a family.”

Washington said detectives came to her house Saturday night to inform her that two suspects had been arrested in the killing of her daughter.

A second man, Larry Woodruffe, 24, has also been taken into custody, the Barnes family’s lawyer, Lee Merritt, confirmed. Woodruffe is “believed to be the shooter,” according to Merritt.

During a news conference, Sunday afternoon, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez declined to name the second suspect, who has yet to be charged in Jazmine’s killing. He said investigators are still working to corroborate information on the second suspect and that he didn’t want to say anything that could jeopardize the investigation.

“But we’re fairly certain there were two individuals involved,” Gonzalez said. “At this point, we feel comfortable with where we are at.”

Woodruffe appeared in court Sunday on a drug charge and a prosecutor told the judge he’s a suspect in a capital murder case, but didn’t mention Jazmine’s slaying specifically, KTRK reported.

Black was pulled over by police on Saturday for making a lane change without signaling and marijuana was found in his vehicle, according to Black’s initial appearance before a judge at 5 a.m. local time. During the hearing, it was revealed that an anonymous informant emailed the sheriff’s office last week and said two people with the initials “EB” and “LW” had committed the shooting.

Black’s name was found through social media and identified as a suspect, prosecutors said.

After Black was taken into custody for the signal violation and possession of marijuana, he was interviewed by homicide detectives and allegedly admitted to driving a rental car from which the shots that hit Jazmine and her family’s car were fired, prosecutors said during Black’s hearing Sunday. Black also allegedly told police he had the 9mm pistol at his home, which matched shell casings found at the scene of Jazmine’s shooting, authorities said.

 

 

3 thoughts on “Updated.. Suspect charged with murder of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes in case of ‘mistaken identity’ 2nd man in custody

  1. C. Citizen says:

    Was looking to see if you updated this story, but, you’ve chosen to leave it as is. Pushing the “racial tension”. The story is the tragic death of a 7 year old girl…& now that the REAL murderer has been caught, the story will quietly disappear along with the other tragedies that happen on a daily basis, but lack the sensationalism the media craves. How many celebrities get involved on a daily basis or does Shaun White “tweet” about the countless murders that do NOT include the air of “racial divide”? I’ll answer – ZERO.

    Liked by 1 person

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