Inset: Jhoan Gomez (Houston Police Department). Background: The area near where a man was shot and killed leaving a Whataburger in Houston, Texas (Houston Police Department).
A Texas teenager is behind bars after shooting and killing a man during an argument amid a fast-food run, Lone Star State police say.
Jhoan Gomez, 19, stands accused of one count of murder over the death of 30-year-old Dreliene Washington, according to the Houston Police Department. The defendant is also charged with one count each of evading arrest and carrying a handgun without a license, Harris County court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
The incident occurred just after 1 p.m. on Sept. 3 along Cottage Street in the Heights neighborhood of Houston, police said. An initial police department press release dated the shooting the day before but court documents and public statements have since corrected the error.
Officers called about a shooting found a gray Honda Civic crashed into the curb with Washington inside suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, police said. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
The violence was captured on video by a surveillance camera at a nearby gas station, according to court records obtained by the Houston Chronicle. In the footage, a lanky man with shaggy hair is seen walking up to the driver's side window of the Civic, police said.
The video shows the defendant briefly speaking with Washington before shooting him several times through the open car window, police said. After the flurry of bullets, the thin man is seen fleeing on foot, according to the surveillance footage cited by law enforcement.
Investigators identified Gomez through witness descriptions and a pair of black basketball shorts found at the defendant's residence during the execution of a search warrant, police said.
Later that same day, Gomez walked to a park in the neighborhood and fled again when he saw police cars there, but was quickly arrested soon after that, according to law enforcement.
During an interview the next day, the defendant initially claimed he was acting in self-defense, police said. Detectives, however, said Gomez's story did not align with security footage. The defendant, in turn, offered another narrative, according to law enforcement.
In this version of events, Gomez said Washington almost hit him in the parking lot of a Whataburger, according to court documents. Police previously said the Civic was leaving a Whataburger in the area when the shooting occurred, the Chronicle reported.
Gomez went on to say that the Whataburger incident led to a verbal altercation, according to law enforcement. After that, Gomez said, Washington drove up to him, said he knew who he was, and accused him of beating up one his friends, police said. As the argument went on, Gomez said he "may" have seen Washington reach for something but conceded the victim did not appear to have a gun on him after all the bullets were fired, court records allege.
Investigators also spoke to the defendant's mother, who said she took Gomez and his brother to get wings for lunch. During this trip, the mother said she stopped at a gas station along the way but that when she got back to the car, Gomez was nowhere to be seen. The mother added that she called him multiple times but got no response.
The son made contact a short while later, the mother told detectives, but he was out of breath, which worried her. The family met back up, at home, roughly 30 minutes after last seeing each other.
Gomez, for his part, told police that after the shooting he ate the wings his mother got him, took a shower, and then headed to the park to smoke, according to law enforcement.
On Tuesday, bail was set at $250,000, court records show.
The defendant is currently detained in the Harris County Jail. Gomez is next slated to appear in court on Oct. 6.