‘My baby has gotten justice,’ dad says
Two arrested, one charged after hunt for answers in Jazmine Barnes’ death
Christopher Cevilla fought back tears Sunday as the news washed over him: An arrest had been made, a 20-year-old man was behind bars and authorities were one step closer in the twisting path to bring his daughter’s killer to justice.
Eric Black Jr. confessed to his role as the getaway driver, police said, and has been charged with capital murder in the drive-by shooting of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes, a crime that captivated the nation and drew tens of thousands of dollars in donations. He told police the shooting near the northeast Houston Walmart was a mistake — that the Barnes family was not the intended target. They soon learned they shot at the wrong car from news reports.
“Now my baby has gotten justice,” Cevilla said outside the Harris County Jail. “Now we can properly put her to rest without having to put her to rest and we’re still on a manhunt looking for a suspect.”
The grieving father was at ease and at times laughing with pastors in a Harris County Sheriff ’s Office hallway. But those emotions were reduced to tears after law enforcement detailed their steps in tracking down one of the men suspected in his daughter’s Dec. 30 death.
Sheriff Ed Gonzalez at-
tributed the arrest to one tip in a sea of 1,000-plus that followed a week of chasing down the wrong lead. Detectives spent six days working off an evolving description of a white man behind the wheel of a red pickup as described by witnesses, even as the case threatened to inflame racial tensions with the looming specter of a hate crime.
Ultimately, a tip passed from civil-rights activist Shaun King to Gonzalez’s inbox during the middle of the week led investigators to Black’s Instagram account. The tip indicated that Black was driving the car with another man as a passenger.
The suspects did not resemble the sickly thin man with blue eyes and hints of stubble depicted in a sketch composite compiled with the help of Jazmine’s sister. Both of the suspects were black.
“It didn’t quite jell at the time,” Gonzalez said of the tip, adding that his investigators continued looking for the man in the sketch.
The investigation came to a head Saturday afternoon when authorities obtained new information to swoop in for the first arrest. Deputies pulled Black over in a rental vehicle at Woodforest and Beltway 8 for failing to use a turn signal.
It wasn’t until after investigators began grilling Black that he admitted to being involved in the shooting and revealed that the family was not the intended target. Police did not reveal the actual target.
‘Work not finished’
Handcuffed and wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, Black sat quietly in court just before dawn Sunday as a hearing officer remanded him without bail for his first known arrest in Harris County.
During the court appearance, prosecutors identified Larry Woodruffe as the second suspect and the man who pulled the trigger during the drive-by assault. He has not been charged in connection with the shooting as of Sunday night.
“Our work is not finished,” Gonzalez said in a statement beforehand. “But I believe the people of Harris County can take comfort in knowing we have made great progress.”
Woodruffe, who has a lengthy rap sheet in Harris County, was a passenger in their car when he and Black spotted a vehicle they thought they recognized, prosecutors cited Black as telling authorities. Woodruffe allegedly opened fire out the window as the pair drove by.
The two men returned the rental car and picked up a different one — the gray Kia that Black was driving when deputies arrested him Saturday. After his confession, Black identified the alleged shooter from a booking photo and told investigators that the murder weapon — a 9 mm pistol — was at his house.
Gonzalez declined to discuss Black and Woodruffe’s respective roles in the shooting during a news conference Sunday afternoon because charges had not yet been filed against Woodruffe.
Woodruffe appeared in court Sunday morning on drug charges and was ordered held on a $100,000 bond.
Neither the suspects nor the vehicle resembled those police had been searching for during the week.
The suspects were not driving the red four-door pickup initially described by police and as seen in surveillance footage near the Walmart before the shooting. Gonzalez said he believes the witnesses were sincere, and if anything the girls may have been describing the truck driver they saw at a traffic light.
“We do not believe in any way that the family, as we’ve said from the beginning, that they’ve been involved in anything nefarious,” Gonzalez said. “It just went down very quickly. The gunfire erupted. We’re talking about small children. They witnessed something very traumatic. It’s likely the last thing they did see was indeed that truck and the driver in that truck.”
The driver of the pickup was likely a witness in the shooting, and authorities would still like him to come forward to “shed light” on what happened.
Jazmine’s mother, LaPorsha Washington, was preparing a birthday party for one of her daughters when reached at home Sunday morning. She declined to comment about the arrest.
She was still wearing a sling from where she was shot in the arm during last week’s predawn shooting. Washington, 30, had been taking her four daughters to the shopping area around 6:50 a.m. Dec. 30 when her car was riddled with bullets.
She had tried driving to a hospital but was forced to stop due to a shot-out tire. She called 911 when she realized Jazmine had a gunshot wound to the head and had stopped breathing.
‘All hands on deck’
Lt. Christopher Sandoval recounted the hurt he and fellow first responders felt as Jazmine’s lifeless body was pulled from the car. He has spent almost every waking moment since then working the case.
“When all this broke on the very first day, it became very apparent to us that this would be one of those cases that we would have to have all hands on deck,” Sandoval said.
He said six homicide investigators and more from other divisions were tasked with finding Jazmine’s killer. The investigation required the most manpower and hours that he can recall in the two years serving as a commander on the homicide unit.
“This is the first time I’ve seen such an investigation of this scale where everyone is involved,” Sandoval said.
Because the victim was under 10, the state can ask for a charge of capital murder. Black can be held just as culpable as the actual gunman under a controversial Texas law that holds accomplices equally responsible for slayings.
Black is slated to return to court Monday morning before a judge in the 176th District Court.
During the week, Gonzalez was careful not to pin a motive to the case, even as activists and family members feared the shooting to be racially motivated. The sheriff dismissed the possibility of a hate crime during the news conference.
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, DHouston, said she did not believe it irresponsible to suggest the child’s death may have been the result of a hate crime.
“Nothing is irresponsible when it comes to the loss of a precious 7-year-old. As many in the community did, they expressed that it seemed to have the criteria of that,” she said, applauding Houston’s patience in awaiting arrests.
Foundation in her memory
King, the civil-rights activist, pushed a reward up to $100,000 for identification of the killer as the manhunt intensified. The money will be used to establish a foundation in Jazmine Barnes’ memory, family attorney Lee Merritt said. A funeral for Jazmine is scheduled for noon Tuesday at the Community of Faith Church.
Gonzalez said that he was not aware of anyone being eligible for a $5,000 reward established through Crime Stoppers of Houston.
Mayor Sylvester Turner thanked law enforcement for their work on the case.
“The authorities worked around the clock to find the individual who is allegedly responsible for the heinous and unspeakable act of violence against an innocent child,” Turner said in a statement early Sunday. “This should serve as a warning to all violent offenders who prey on our community: The color of your skin, how much money you make — these things don’t matter when law enforcement will find you, eventually.”