Photo: Harris County Sheriff's Office/Facebook
A Texas man is facing a capital murder charge after a 5-year-old girl was killed when gunfire struck the vehicle she was riding in with her mother and siblings.
Jeremy Porter, 47, was arrested Sunday (September 20) in connection with the death of Zah’layah Walter, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. The shooting happened Saturday night (September 19) as Zah’layah’s mother, Monica Hicks, drove her five children in the Cypress area.
Hicks told Click2Houston that she heard gunfire while driving but did not immediately know her daughter had been hit. After Hicks called 911, Zah’layah was airlifted to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Two of her siblings were also hurt by broken glass.
Investigators initially treated the shooting as a possible road-rage incident. Hicks rejected that explanation, telling ABC13 that she had not cut off another driver or gotten into an exchange with anyone before the gunfire.
According to court documents reviewed by ABC13, Porter told investigators he believed Hicks’ vehicle had fired at him and was being driven erratically. He is also accused of telling investigators that he fired five rounds at the vehicle.
Gonzalez said investigators were able to identify Porter using information from automated license plate readers and make an arrest within a day of the shooting.
The sheriff also referenced the 2018 killing of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes, who was shot while riding with her mother, LaPorsha Washington, in Houston. Gonzalez said the department did not have the same license plate reader technology available during that investigation.
He acknowledged that technology is only one part of an investigation but said such tools can provide information when officers are working to identify a suspect.
“Sadly, other families who have lost loved ones to roadway violence are still waiting for answers,” Gonzalez wrote in his Monday (September 21) statement.
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