Cloverleaf 12-year-old murdered while defending his family from mother's abusive ex, she says
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Carlos Fernandez's mother told ABC13 that her 12-year-old son was shot while defending her and his little sisters from her abusive ex-boyfriend.
At about 3 a.m. on Monday, Ashley Rostro said she was asleep in a bedroom with her boyfriend and two daughters, ages 6 and 7, while Carlos slept nearby in the living room.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office previously reported that the entire family slept in the room together and that Carlos was shot and killed as he slept next to his sisters.
Rostro said her ex-boyfriend, Terry Rivera, opened the family's bedroom window.
"Just the sound of the window going up, I automatically knew who it was," she said.
Rostro said Rivera reached through the window and pushed a television off a dresser. Charging documents state that he said, "Yeah, what's up? What's up?"
Rostro said her son heard the commotion and ran to the room as Rivera opened fire, fatally shooting him four times.
"He's my protector. He ran in there trying to save me," she said.
Rostro said she is working to be "strong" and act as her son's "voice."
"He wants me to do this. I have to. He's not here to speak for himself," she said.
Rostro said Rivera had broken into the family's apartment Friday, just three days before the shooting. She believes he broke in through a window he "knew was unlocked" and stole her gun.
Hours later, around 10 p.m., Rostro said he returned to the apartment with the couple's two girls and attacked her with the weapon. She said he cocked the gun as he ran up to her.
"He just grabs me by the neck and pushes me down, and then he makes his way inside the apartment, starts throwing everything," she explained.
Rostro said when Rivera came out of the apartment, he brandished the gun again.
"Pointing it. Like, trying to threaten me," she said.
Rostro called 911. She says she told responding Harris County deputies she wanted to press charges. She said she was worried that the window did not lock.
She detailed Rivera's violent criminal history for them. She said she wanted a protective order and the gun out of his hands. Investigators now believe Rivera used that same gun to kill Carlos.
RELATED: Former boyfriend of murdered 12-year-old's mother identified as suspect in boy's killing, HCSO says
"They let him go with that, too," she said.
The District Attorney's Office declined charges after Friday's attack. A spokesperson told ABC13 their paperwork made no mention of a gun. However, the Harris County Sheriff's Office said they notified the DA of the weapon.
Attorney Anthony Osso Jr. previously worked that same role in the district attorney's office, sifting through charges, and says the attack qualified Rivera for several felony charges, including the aggravated assault of a family member with a deadly weapon.
Osso added that Rivera's criminal history should have been taken into consideration.
In 2014, Rivera was charged with strangling a female family member but pleaded down to a lesser offense. The victim obtained an emergency protective order. In 2015, he was charged with shooting a gun out of a moving vehicle. In 2023, he was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon but, again, pleaded guilty to a lesser offense.
"When you're called on a domestic violence scene, you're going to want to look at prior domestic violence," he said.
Rostro said the same deputy that responded to the Friday attack huddled over her son's body, performing CPR Monday.
"I just told her so many things, you know? I'm like, 'Is this what it takes for me to get a protection order?'"
Rostro is asking anyone harboring Rivera to turn him in.
If you need help getting out of a domestic violence situation, call the Houston Area Women's Center 24/7 hotline at 713-528-2121 or call AVDA at 713-224-9911. You can also click here to chat with an advocate online. If you are deaf or hard of hearing and need help, call 713-528-3625.
For more updates on this story, follow Shannon Ryan on Facebook, X and Instagram.
