Prosecutor: 'Person of interest' in Austin judge shooting killed Houston man over punch
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The man still being called a "person of interest" in the shooting of an Austin judge killed a man in Houston, police say, because he disrespected is father.
New details about the local case were revealed in court Wednesday afternoon. As Chimene Onyeri, 28, stood in from of a judge in Houston, a prosecutor described the case against him saying he shot Jacobi Alexander, 29, eight times because Alexander had punched his father after a car accident the day before. Alexander was not involved in the Alief-area accident, but witnessed it, according to his father who's still grieving.
"The lady had backed into the guy's car and she had tried to apologize to him, to say I'm sorry," said Terry Sutton.
His son told him the woman was afraid so she got back into her car. That's when the man, believed to be Onyeri's father, Innocent Onyeri, went to her window and started punching her through it. Sutton says his son then punched Innocent Onyeri.
The next day, May 18, 2015, Alexander was dead, shot four times in the abdomen and then shot "four more times in the head at close range," according to the prosecutor in court.
"It's senseless. I never thought I would get up the next day and he be killed for something like that," Sutton added.
Sources tell Eyewitness News the gun used to kill Alexander on May 18th is the same one used in the shooting of District Judge Julie Kocurek outside her home in Austin. Onyeri has a felony case pedning in her court. He is still being called a "person of interest" in that shooting and is being held in Harris County on the local murder charge without bond.
When Eyewitness News caught up with his father Wednesday night, he denied knowing anything about a motive before running into his house and slamming the door.
Reporter: "Did you tell your son about this accident? Were you punched in the face?
Innocent Onyeri: "No, no I wasn't involved in any accident. I don't have any comment. I wasn't involved in any accident."
