Suspected killer arrested in Georgia
Local man faces murder charges in 2 shootings in Harris County
A man suspected in a pair of Houston-area deadly shootings was captured this week in Georgia, according to authorities.
Ronald Roy “Poppa” Smith was arrested early Tuesday in the area of Wenona, in the central part of the state. He was booked into the Worth County Jail and is awaiting extradition back to Texas, where he’ll face two murder charges, according to the Harris County Sheriff ’s Office.
Smith was already suspected in the 2017 slaying of a man found dead in the driver’s seat of a parked car when he was also accused of fatally shooting a Houston-area father in front of the man’s two children, according to authorities.
The latter killing — after which police and sheriff’s officials held a news conference pleading for the public’s help — was in mid-October, when Smith allegedly shot to death Michael Ware during an argument in the 15600 block of Bammel Village.
‘Dangerous killer’
Ware had his 1- and 2year-old children in the car as he left a Bammelwood apartment complex where he’d been visiting family, his cousin later told police. He spotted Smith driving by and stopped his Tahoe, then got out to talk, court records show.
As he stood in front of Smith’s dark-colored Chevrolet, the two started arguing and at some point Smith allegedly opened fire. Ware ran back to his own car — with his kids inside — and collapsed, even as the shooter continued firing.
Afterward, the gunman drove around the Tahoe and sped off down the road in his Chevy, according to court records. Prosecutors filed charges on Oct. 21, the day of the slaying.
“Our community must pull together to get this extremely dangerous killer off our streets and in jail where he belongs,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at a news conference afterward. “It’s time he’s held accountable before someone else crosses his path.”
When police found him Tuesday, it was because of information gleaned from tracking down the dark-colored Chevrolet spotted at the scene of the crime.
In the days after the killing, authorities recovered the vehicle in the Houston area, according to sheriff ’s office spokesman Jason Spencer. In the process, investigators learned that Smith might have fled to Georgia, so they asked the U.S. Marshals for help.
Fatal Christmas dispute
When the marshals found Smith, he tried to run away, but was caught and taken into custody, Spencer said.
The earlier homicide linked to Smith was a day after Christmas 2017, when Sherroin Brentley was found shot to death in a car outside the Diamond Food Mart in the 8300 block of Veterans Memorial.
The slain man had gunshot wounds to the back and head and the car was still running when police showed up, according to court papers.
A witness told investigators that he’d been arguing with Brentley — known as “Lil Mil”— when Smith walked up and joined the dispute. It was all caught on the store’s surveillance camera when Smith left, returned with a passenger, and got into a scuffle inside Brentley’s vehicle.
Shots went off, and afterward Smith stuffed a gun into his waistband, video shows. A warrant was issued for his arrest the next day, court records show.
The accused killer has a long list of prior arrests in Harris County, but does not yet have a lawyer assigned in the latest set of charges.
Previously, he caught a drug possession charge that netted a six-month state jail sentence, a conviction for selling PCP that led to two years in state prison and, most recently, a deadly conduct charge that got him a year in the county lock-up.