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In Texas, a 20-year-old man was arrested on Saturday and charged with the death of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes, who was shot while driving in a car with his family in Houston. Another man is currently being held in connection with the shootings but has not yet been charged, said a lawyer for the girl's family.
Eric Black Jr., age 20, was charged with aggravated murder and appeared in court early Sunday morning, handcuffed. and an orange combination. He was sentenced to be detained without bail. A prosecutor said that Black admitted to driving the car when his passenger opened fire.
Lee Merritt, a Barnes family lawyer, told CBS News that another suspect had also been arrested.
The shooting occurred in Houston on December 30 a car stopping beside the vehicle carrying Barnes and his family at a traffic light and an armed man opening fire. Jazmine died from a gunshot wound to his head and his mother was hit in the arm.
LaPorsha Washington, Jazmine's mother, said in the days that followed the shooting that she thought was racially motivated. His 15-year-old daughter, who was also in the car, first stated that the gunman was a white man in a red truck, and police issued a sketch of the artist on Thursday showing a white and thin man with a shadow of the hour. Black, the alleged driver, is African-American. The full name of the alleged armed man is not yet known.
At a press conference Sunday afternoon, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said that there was indeed a red truck on fire when shots rang out, but that investigators believe the people in the truck were only witnesses. He urged the unidentified truck driver to come forward.
Gonzalez stated that the investigators did not believe "in any way" that the family members were involved in "harmful" acts. He added that the investigators thought that two people were involved in the shooting, but did not want to say more, Black being the only person accused.
Earlier Sunday, a prosecutor presented the case details against Black at a hearing at the Probable Cause Court in downtown Houston. Appearing by videoconference, the prosecutor told Gonzalez that he received anonymous email information involving two men identified as "LW" and "EB" during the shooting after authorities sought help from the public to identify the attackers.
The source told the sheriff the suspects thought the vehicle carrying Jazmine was another vehicle that they had seen earlier in the day, said the prosecutor, and he did not realize that They had hit the wrong vehicle before seeing the news later in the day.
The source provided the sheriff with the name of an Instagram account used by one of the suspects, whose investigators determined that it belonged to Black, the prosecutor said.
On Saturday, police arrested Black in a gray Kia for failing to report the lane change, and detained him for alleged marijuana possession after one MP said he saw a bag in plastic containing what appeared to be marijuana when Black opened his insurance card. The officer searched Black's car, found more marijuana there and arrested him, said the prosecutor.
Homicide detectives interrogated Black on Saturday, and the prosecutor said he admitted to driving the vehicle involved in the shootings. Black told investigators that "LW" – identified in court only by "Larry" – was sitting in the passenger seat of a rental car and fired at the vehicle carrying Jazmine. Black made his rental car after the shooting and took the car he was driving on Saturday while he was arrested
The prosecutor said at Sunday's hearing that Black was then agreed to search his home, where the police found a 9mm pistol. compatible with the casings found on the site of the shooting.
Sheriff Gonzales said Sunday that the police had received more than 1,000 tips in this case. A $ 100,000 reward was offered for information leading to arrest. At a rally in Houston Saturday, over 500 people paid tribute to Jazmine and helped raise money for the family.
Zachary Hudak contributed to the writing of reports.
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