HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The guy who police say fatally stabbed another man was released from custody after he told authorities he attacked in self-defense. But the victim's family isn't buying that story.
"Oh my baby, I want him back please give him back to me," wept Leticia Gonzalez.
She heavily cried out for her son Joel Gonzalez. The 22-year-old worked at a local cabinet making facility and was known as a protector and a provider for his family.
"He was my best friend and my first born. When I was down, he always brought me up. He was always there for me and now he's gone," she added.
Harris County Deputies say 20-year-old Sean Hemanez killed Gonzalez during a heated fight at the family's Northeast Houston apartment complex. The mother says she opened her home to Hamanez.
"We gave him a place to stay because he was living on the street. That is that the kind of person I am," Gonzalez said.
Leticia says that decision backfired. Monday evening her 17-year-old daughter dropped a bombshell.
"She said he tried to touch my daughter. He went in the room while we were asleep and my other son was knocked out and my other son was at work," said Gonzalez.
Deputies say when Gonzalez learned of this he confronted Hemanez and that's when the fight began.
"He hit my son and my son hit him back. Sean ran inside my apartment and my son chased him. My son was hitting him and I didn't notice when he went and grabbed a knife from the kitchen and he got it and stabbed him like that. My son goes he stabbed me and then when I saw the blood coming out I knew it was for real," she said.
Leticia watched her son take his last breathe.
"I couldn't believe it. He died right here in front of us," she added.
Police spent the night searching for Hemanez. But sources tell Eyewitness News today he turned himself in and was questioned by detectives. Hemanez claims self-defense and was released from police custody, this grieving mother calls him a murderer.
"He killed my son and they let him go and that's not right. I want justice and I want him to pay for what he did to my son," she added.
Hemanez has been released from police custody. The case will now go to a Grand Jury.