Inset: Riley DeArmas (KHOU/YouTube). Background: The Houston apartment complex where Riley DeArmas, 13, was stabbed to death by a 10-year-old boy (KTRK/YouTube).
Texas prosecutors will weigh whether to charge a 10-year-old boy for allegedly stabbing a 13-year-old girl to death during a massive fight involving "about 20 to 30" people at a Houston apartment complex, according to officials. The boy is claiming he killed the young teen in self-defense.
"They're claiming that the 13-year-old was among about 20 to 30 people that came over and started assaulting people in that apartment," said Houston Police Lt. Larry Crowson during a press conference after Wednesday's slaying. "And that he stabbed her in self-defense."
Family members and close friends of Riley DeArmas, who was stabbed once, insist that she was "attacked" by the 10-year-old during the fight at a complex on Grow Lane, which stemmed from an altercation between "two groups of individuals," including Riley, Houston police report in a press release.
"Officers responded to a stabbing call … and located a juvenile female [Riley] suffering from a stab wound," the press release says. "Houston Fire Department paramedics transported her to an area hospital where she was pronounced deceased."
Authorities detained the 10-year-old boy and questioned him about what happened, according to police officials. He was released pending further investigation, with homicide investigators contacting the district attorney's office to "see how they want to proceed" with charges, Crowson said.
"It's a 10-year-old," Crowson told reporters. "That is the minimum age of criminal responsibility in the state of Texas, so charges could be filed. That'll be up to the district attorney."
Riley's family told local CBS affiliate KHOU that "there was no self-defense" involved in the stabbing, with her mother saying, "My daughter was attacked."
"She was not a violent person," the mom, Ashley DeArmas, insisted.
"She would never harm anyone intentionally. The narrative that's going around right now about my daughter, that was not Riley," Ashley DeArmas said. "She did not deserve it. She did not deserve to die."
A spokesperson for the Harris County DA's office told KHOU that "once HPD completes their investigation, the case will be presented … and we will make a decision at that time."
Police officials say they are probing whether the fight at the Grow Lane apartment complex stemmed from an earlier dispute involving several teenagers at a local school. Crowson told reporters the incidents appear to be related, according to local ABC affiliate KTRK.
Riley's mom says she was going to be turning 14 next month.
"Instead of me celebrating her 14th birthday, I'm celebrating [her] and trying to bury my daughter right now," Ashley DeArmas told KHOU while at a balloon release on Saturday in honor of Riley. "These balloons could have been for her 14th birthday, not her death."