Suspect in child's murder was out on bond for aggravated robbery
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- A 19-year-old man was arrested and charged with murder in killing an 11-year-old boy.
The child, Darius Dugas, was simply grabbing his coat from a car when he was shot in the chest and died earlier this month in northeast Harris County.
Sheriff Ed Gonzalez announced on Friday that Daveyonne Howard has been charged for Darius' murder. That same day, Darius' family and friends said their final goodbyes.
Howard is in the Harris County Jail on an unrelated charge.
On Feb. 3, deputies responded to a shooting at about 7:40 p.m. at an apartment complex in the 12200 block of Tidwell, where they found Darius on the ground.
Gonzalez said multiple rounds of shots were fired.
In this latest update, the sheriff said that prior to Darius' murder, Howard was in another complex breaking into vehicles. He was allegedly caught breaking into a car, and the vehicle's owner, who was trying to retrieve his stolen items, chased him to the Tidwell location.
According to Gonzalez, Howard started shooting at the owner and killed Darius.
The sheriff said Howard has an extensive criminal history that dates back to 2019 and was out on bond for aggravated robbery at the time of Darius' murder.
Harris County Records show Howard was placed in jail on Feb. 14 on an unrelated robbery threats case.
Friday, hundreds of Darius' family and friends gathered for a celebration of life and the burial of the sixth grader, who many called 'DJ' or 'King Darius.'
A family member told ABC13 Darius' mother, Brenetta Francis, wanted Friday to be about Darius and the legacy he leaves behind.
Christia Bobb, funeral director in Charge of Pruitts In the Heights, was asked to speak on behalf of the family.
"This baby hasn't even had time to live," Bobb said, "As you can see by the love that's here, people have come in from far and near to give love to this family. So that the healing and the comfort of this, it doesn't take the fact away of what happened."
The video above is from a previous story when Darius' father spoke to ABC13 about his son.
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