Man convicted of killing 11-year-old in 2020 while out on bond for another murder sentenced to life
Officials said Desmond Hawkins killed the young boy and his stepfather Menuell Solomon, who was known to be a Houston rapper.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A man is set to spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing a young boy nearly three years ago while out on bond for another murder.
Desmond Hawkins, 23, was convicted of capital murder this week in the death of 11-year-old Dominic Sumicek on Oct. 26, 2020.
According to the Harris County District Attorney's Office, Hawkins killed Dominic and his stepfather, 41-year-old Menuell Solomon, in their driveway.
Solomon, who was known to be a Houston rapper on YouTube called "Montana22," died while shielding Dominic, according to previous reports.
Officials said that at the time of the murders, Hawkins was free on bond for a capital murder four years earlier, in 2016.
In that case, Hawkins was arrested for fatally shooting a man he knew during a robbery. He was then released on bond with a GPS ankle monitor.
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Hawkins was allegedly still wearing the ankle monitor during the 2020 murders.
A week before the shooting, Solomon had told police that a man he didn't know had tried to shoot and kill him while parking his car in the driveway of his home.
On the day of the murder, Hawkins' GPS monitor showed he was waiting for at least three hours and walking around Solomon's driveway before he cut a hole into a chain-link fence to have better access, according to the DA's office.
As Solomon backed into his driveway with his stepson in the passenger seat, officials said Hawkins came out from the hole in the fence, shot the 11-year-old twice, and then shot Solomon four times, killing them both.
Along with the GPS monitoring records, surveillance video from nearby cameras showed Hawkins running toward the murder scene.
In 2021, a second suspect, Dewayne Batiste, was also arrested and charged in connection to the deadly shooting, though it's unclear what his role was.
After a two-week trial, jurors convicted Hawkins, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
It remains unclear why Hawkins targeted the stepfather.
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