Alleged gang member was shooting at rivals when woman killed in crossfire, records allege

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- More than two years after a fatal shot hit a woman while driving down a Third Ward street, the Houston Police Department said it arrested the man responsible.

Jafar Otems, 23, was arrested Thursday afternoon and charged with the murder of Alva Lopez Rivera, 43.

According to police, Lopez Rivera was driving down Milby Street in April 2022 when a stray bullet hit her in the back, causing her to crash into a house. A bullet also hit a man, but he survived.

ONLY ON ABC13 , an Eyewitness News camera rolled on Otems' first court appearance on Friday evening, where prosecutors alleged he was a member of a gang and was shooting at rivals when Lopez Rivera died.

Just days before the shooting, police said Otems took part in another shooting inside a Bush Airport parking garage. Otems and alleged fellow gang members had just flown in from Los Angeles.

"They were alleged to be trafficking large amounts of marijuana," the magistrate said in court.

When they reached the parking garage, members of another gang allegedly ambushed them. Some of the other gang's alleged members reportedly include Otems' cousins.

Otems and his group were robbed, and then police said he chased after the suspects and opened fire. Police said he wasn't charged in the shooting for another two months.

In the days after the shooting, prosecutors said Otems and his alleged gang members went looking for members of the other gang before finding them on Milby Street.

In August 2023, police arrested him in Garvin County, Oklahoma, after finding him with more than $20,000 in cash, which they said came from drug sales.

Otems pleaded guilty in that case this month and was given two years' probation.

He was still out on bond for the airport shooting at the time of the Milby shooting.

In February, he made headlines after Galveston County deputies said he led them on a chase into Harris County before crashing into a trailer and bailing as his SUV went up in flames. Deputies said they were trying to arrest him for an open warrant.

Otems is currently out on bond in that case.

The magistrate set his bail at $150,000 for the murder charge at Friday's hearing.
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