Prosecutor: Student’s killing planned on social media
Two men accused in what authorities believe was the gang-related slaying of a Lamar High School student had messaged each other on social media in advance to discuss the logistics of the planned killing, according to a state prosecutor.
One of the men, 18-year-old Dave’on Thomas, appeared in court on Monday for the first time after he was charged with murder in the Nov. 13 death of DeLindsey Mack.
Thomas stood before a judge as a prosecutor detailed how authorities connected the teen to the crime, which police have described as one of several in an ongoing gang war.
Mack, 18, was slain in the middle of the day last year while walking home from his classes at Lamar High School. Two people pulled up in a speeding car and jumped out, firing shots at the teen. One of the gunmen then stood over him and repeatedly fired shots as Mack lay dying on the pavement, according to court records.
The shooting sparked a lockdown at the River Oaks campus and prompted Mayor Sylvester Turner to visit the school after he received a letter from a concerned 17-year-old student. He also visited Yates High School, the Third Ward campus from which Mack had just transferred and where Thomas attended.
Mack’s parents found out after the shooting that their son had portrayed himself on social media to be a member of the Backstreet/Freemoney gang, a group associated with the Young Scott Block, or YSB, gang. His mother had warned police twice that he was being threatened by gang members.
Thomas and Kendrick Johnson, who is also charged with murder, were linked to Mack’s death after authorities found messages that the pair exchanged on social media discussing Mack and the planned killing, a prosecutor said.
Their phones went dark after 11:40 a.m. and were turned back on sometime after 12:15 p.m., when Mack was shot.
The suspects later messaged each other to discuss authorities’ news conference about Mack’s death, as well as the need to ditch the car being sought in the killing, the prosecutor said.
Thomas originally maintained he wasn’t a part of the slaying, be
cause he was in class at Yates High School. Records found that Thomas left school midway through the day, the prosecutor said.
Shortly after Mack’s death, law enforcement leaders said a number of recent murders were part of an ongoing war between members of two local street gangs, 100 Percent Third Ward (103) and the YSB gang.
Thomas, who belongs to the 103 gang, is a suspect in three murders and two aggravated robberies, the prosecutor said.
Thomas was taken into custody on $500,000 bond, which was lowered to $200,000 according to court records. Harris County state district Judge Chuck Silverman raised the bond to $300,000 on Monday.
Johnson was charged in March with the murder and that of 24-year-old Kenneth Roberson, who was killed in southeast Houston last September. Johnson was already in custody on unrelated aggravated robbery charges.