Boyfriend is charged in death of woman found shot

Police have arrested a man who said he accidentally shot his girlfriend — whom a court order had prohibited him from seeing — at a Jacinto City apartment.

Johnny Zermeno, 31, was charged with manslaughter and felon in possession of a weapon after Jacinto City police officers found his girlfriend, Dalisha Blate, 30, fatally shot next to a vehicle around 2:30 a.m. Sunday in the 1200 block of Oates.

Zermeno told investigators that he “accidentally shot her when they arrived home.”

During the past two years, Zermeno garnered several domestic violence arrests, in which Blate was the alleged victim. He had been out on bail since August on a charge of continuous violence against a family member, in which Blate was the alleged victim. The charge stemmed from a January 2020 allegation of assault.

He also was out on bail at that time for a misdemeanor charge of assault of a family member, which also pertained to Blate. That case resulted in a protective order that prohibited Zermeno, starting in December 2019, from contacting Blate or going near her Galena Park home.

As Zermeno remained held at the Harris County Jail, Blate notarized an “affidavit of fact” that she wished to have the charges dropped.

“The situation was a misunderstanding,” she wrote last March. “I acted out in anger.”

Zermeno posted a $30,000 surety bond in August.

The latest investigation has since been handed to the Harris County Sheriff ’s Office. Zermeno also faces one count of violation of a protective order.