Houston, Texas: A gunman opened fire at a Texas Walmart on a car containing a mother and her three children. As a result, 7 -year-old Jazmine Barnes was killed.

Jazmine’s mother told CNN:

“I just want anybody, whoever, out there that knows anything about the murder of my daughter, to just please step up as if it was your own,” an emotional Christopher Cevilla told reporters on Monday. “Just put yourself in my shoes, in my family’s shoes.”

Jazmine Barnes was shopping at a Houston-area Walmart with her mother and two siblings when gunfire broke out close to 7 a.m. on Sunday morning. A man driving a red/maroon colored four-door pick-up truck and fired several shots. Jazmine was killed at the scene said Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzales released.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jazmine’s mother LaPorsha Washington, 30 was shot in the arm and her 6-year-old sister was struck by shattered glass. Two teens that were in the car were unharmed.

Authorities were working to determine whether the shooting was random or targeted, and they are searching for the shooter. He is described as a bearded white male, possibly in his 40s, who was wearing a red hoodie, according to the sheriff’s office. The victims are black.
“It’s our belief that it was totally unprovoked, whatever it was, and we’re leaving no stone unturned. We’re going to leave every motive out there as a possibility,” Gonzalez told CNN.
He added: “There was nothing to indicate that the family did anything wrong in any way. They were simply just driving along the service road when this happened to them.”
Washington told CNN affiliate KTRK she turned around and looked back at the street and heard shots.
“They came through my window, broke my glass, and hit me in my arm,” she told the station from her hospital bed.
Washington said:
“He sped off in front of us and stopped, and still continued to fire at us. It was not fair. He intentionally killed my child for no reason. He didn’t even know her. He didn’t even know who she was,” she said. Washington said one of her daughters discovered Jazmine had been shot. “She said, ‘Momma, Jazmine’s not moving. She’s not talking.’ I turned around and my 7-year-old was shot in the head,” Washington said, according to KTRK.
The sheriff said authorities don’t have information that the gunman yelled anything to the victims during the shooting. “We don’t have any reason to believe he wasn’t aware of what he was doing,” the sheriff said. The sheriff’s office released a photo of the pickup truck believed to be involved in the shooting taken from a surveillance video taken before the incident. Authorities also urged the public to look at their surveillance footage and try to remember if they had seen the truck before.
“Please keep this family in your prayers,” Gonzalez said in a Facebook post. “A total of 5 occupants in the car witnessed this child, their loved one, shot and killed before their eyes. So senseless. It’s never easy, and extra hard during the holiday season.”
The sheriff said he had never met the 7-year-old but noticed her “million-dollar smile” in photographs. Cevilla said his daughter was “loving, caring, very passionate with people, very sweet, just a innocent young girl, very smart in school.” He added:
“It’s just a lot of things that’s been robbed of me and my family at this moment that we will never be able to get back.”
The Sheldon Independent School District said Jazmine was a second-grader at Monahan Elementary and “will truly be missed by all students and staff.” Gonzalez urged the suspect to turn himself in.
“My hope is that every passing moment that his conscience is eating away at him … and I hope it’s that case forever,” he said.
The sheriff said: “We’re going to find you.”

Jones Brown Law

At the law offices of Jones Brown, we pride ourselves on principles of honesty, hard work, fair dealing and compassion in our representation. Our attorneys and staff are committed to adhering to a strict code of professional ethics. We dedicate ourselves to our clients’ best interests and making the legal process as painless and simple as possible for the injured and their family. Our mission is to make accessible legal help and services for everyone by answering questions at no cost and with no obligation. We aim to make the world of law understandable to all.

Fill out my online form.
Share Page