Two men suspected in a drive-by shooting that killed a seven-year-old black Houston girl and that was initially investigated as a possible hate crime mistakenly thought they were attacking people whom they had fought with at a club hours earlier, a prosecutor said on Monday.
One of the men, Eric Black Jr, appeared in court on Monday on a capital murder charge related to the 30 December killing of Jazmine Barnes. Black didn’t speak during the brief hearing and neither he nor his lawyer, Alvin Nunnery, spoke to the media outside.
Prosecutors allege that Black told investigators he was driving the SUV from which an unidentified passenger fired at Jazmine, her three sisters and mother as they were on their way to a grocery store.
Prosecutor Samantha Knecht told the judge on Monday that the unidentified passenger fired on the family’s car in a case of mistaken identity, thinking it belonged to people he and Black had fought with at a club hours before the shooting. She declined to comment about the second suspect.
Activists earlier praised Houston police for pursuing a tip from the writer and activist Shaun King that led to an arrest in the shooting.
King acknowledged his role but also wrote on social media “something’s not right” with the case.
When Jazmine Barnes was killed I pledged to find who killed her. We did that. The men who were arrested shot her. That I know.
— Shaun King (@shaunking) January 7, 2019
But I’ve studied this case for nearly 60 hours.
And something’s not right. Key details are missing in the story.
I no longer trust the timeline.
The Harris county sheriff, Ed Gonzalez, announced on Sunday that prosecutors had arrested and charged 20-year-old Black with capital murder. Black told investigators he was the driver of the SUV from which a passenger fired into another vehicle and killed Jazmine.
Gonzalez said police had identified a second suspect, who also is black, but declined to say if they are in custody.
The tip that sent the case in a new direction came from King. Before it, police had issued a sketch of a white man based on a description of the shooter provided by Jazmine’s family, and had circulated surveillance video of a red pickup truck he was apparently driving.
Gonzalez said there was in fact a red pickup truck driven by a white man seen at a stoplight just before the shooting, but the driver did not appear to have been involved. Gonzalez said it was dark, the shooting happened quickly, and the red truck was probably the last thing seen by Jazmine’s family.
King acknowledged on social media his role in providing the tip. In one Instagram post, he wrote: “Was just told by law enforcement that two men who were identified by one of my confidential informants have been brought in for questioning.”
In another, he named “two men that I reported” to the sheriff: one was Black and the other a man not yet named by police.
King is a New York-based civil rights activist and former senior justice writer at the New York Daily News who highlights racial issues on social media and in his writing.
On Sunday, he also wrote on Twitter: “When Jazmine Barnes was killed I pledged to find who killed her. We did that. The men who were arrested shot her. That I know. But I’ve studied this case for nearly 60 hours. And something’s not right. Key details are missing in the story. I no longer trust the timeline.”
Gonzalez said : “At this point, it does not appear it was related to race.”
Deric Muhammad, an organizer of a rally on Saturday in Houston to demand “Justice for Jazmine”, commended the sheriff for working with the community.
“We are still heartbroken at the thought of a seven-year-old innocent child losing her life in such a violent way,” Muhammad said in a statement. “We are no less heartbroken that those person[s] currently charged with this homicide are black; not white.”
Prosecutors said the 9mm handgun they believe was used in the shooting had been recovered from Black’s home.
Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat who represents parts of Houston, said the community came together to help solve the case.
“It’s wonderful to have a sheriff who’s willing to engage in a dialogue about violence, about hate, about guns and we have that along with the [police chief], the mayor of our city,” Lee said.
James Dixon, a prominent pastor in Houston, also thanked Gonzalez for working around the clock in the investigation and for fostering a “collegial relationship” between pastors, law enforcement and elected officials.