Teen charged in connection to fatal shooting at movie theater: 'I want his family to know how truly sorry I am'

Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Teenage murder suspect speaks from jail
Teenage murder suspect speaks from jail, Tracy Clemons reports.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Faith Deleon had dreams of being a forensic science technician.

The 17-year-old told Eyewitness News that dream has faded away.

Deleon has been in Harris County Jail since March for her alleged role in the January shooting death of 18-year old Daniel Gerding outside the Studio Movie Grill at Highway 6 and West Road.

She's charged with capital murder.

On Tuesday, she told ABC13 that after her co-defendant shot Gerding, she ran for her life. He turned the gun on her and threatened to kill her, she said.

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According to the charging document, on New Year's night, her co-defendant asked her to call one of her "plugs," or drug dealer connections, to set up a robbery because he needed some clothes. She called Gerding's friend Colyn Timmons. They met Gerding and Timmons at the Studio Movie Grill, got into their car, and after one of them handed him a gram of marijuana, he pulled a gun and shot Gerding twice as he tried to escape.

He shot Timmons in the face.

Deleon's co-defendant was 16 at the time and has not been charged as an adult, so we are not identifying him.

ORIGINAL REPORT: Two teens shot outside NW Harris Co. movie theater

Two people were shot outside a movie theater in northwest Harris County on Sunday night, police say.

In a jailhouse interview Tuesday afternoon, Deleon said she didn't know he had a gun and after the gunshot she ran.

"I had never seen anyone get shot before," Deleon said.

Cell phone records led investigators to her. Shell casings from a February aggravated assault in Jersey Village matched casings from the shooting and led them to her co-defendant.

Deleon says of Gerding, "I pray for him every day. I want his family to know how truly sorry I am."

ABC13 spoke with Gerding's father on the phone and he says she needs to ask God for forgiveness -- not his family. For them, what she did is unforgivable.

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