Man charged with murder in selfie death
Girl, 16, was killed as pair took photos with gun, police say
An Austin man on Wednesday was charged with murder in the death of a teenage girl who was shot in the head while taking selfies with a loaded gun at a Conroe apartment complex.
Matthew Tyshaun Davis, 19, of Austin, has been charged with felony murder and felony manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance, authorities said.
Davis was being held in the Montgomery County Jail with bail set at $1 million.
Another 19-year-old, Joseph Hayden Wilson of Willis, was charged with felony tampering/ fabrication of physical evidence — to impair an investigation and felony possession of a controlled substance.
Wilson was being held without bail.
Conroe police officers initially responded to a disturbance call at the Anatole at the Pines Apartments at 1100 South Loop 336.
A 911 caller told police he left the apartment and returned to find a deceased female teenager in the apartment with a gunshot wound to the head.
“During our investigation, we learned that a 16-year-old female and male were in the apartment, taking selfies with a loaded gun when it allegedly went off, striking the female in the head,” said Conroe Police Sgt. Scott McCann.
McCann said “the male fled the apartment and we believe it was approximately an hour before they called the police.”
Conroe police detectives returned to the scene Wednesday to collect more evidence.
The shooting is at least the second in the Houston area this year that stemmed from gunplay on camera.
On April 1, Devyn Holmes was shot and critically injured while he and two acquaintances were in the car shooting a Facebook Live video in a parking lot in Houston’s Museum District.
In a video of the incident, a female acquaintance can be seen shooting Holmes.
She told police the shooting was accidental and that she thought the gun was unloaded. Officers charged her with aggravated assault with bodily injury and tampering with evidence.
Family members said last spring that Holmes was gradually recovering.