Police arrest two alleged shooters
NORTH SHORE – In what has been described by Houston Police as an ambush, from the rooftop of a vacant house, two youths died from gunshots, and two others were wounded.
Two groups of youth who had a previous altercation, planned to meet at Strickland park and a vacant house in the 12800 block of Eastbrook Drive, near Maxey and Woodforest. Reportedly the one group thought it would be a fist fight, but it turned deadly with a shooting.
The incident occurred last Thursday, Feb. 21 at about 4:50 pm. Neighbors reported hearing multiple rounds of firing, and Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said that the AR-15 style rifle was equipped with a 30 round magazine. Two of the young men were hit with deadly fire, a third was wounded and was admitted to a hospital, and a fourth person, an 18 year old woman, was wounded in the knee.
Chief Acevedo held a news conference the first night, and was visibly shaken by the callousness of the shooting, vowing to bring the shooters to justice.
He said, “I’m getting tired of going to the scenes and seeing young people die. A coward decided to go on a rooftop and wait for them and gun them down as if they were deer.”
Neighbors had surveillance of the area, and soon the police were hunting for a black Chevrolet Tahoe seen leaving the scene.
Over the weekend, HPD made the first arrest, of the alleged shooter, Marlon Valdez, 18. He was charged with capital murder in the incident. Authorities identified Valdez in court documents as a student at North Shore High School.
Later on Wednesday of this week, police arrested Rene Moreno, 20, and charged him with capital murder. He is described by police as the getaway driver. Although police did not say how they knew the shooters, obviously the victims could ID them.
Anyone with additional information or video of this incident is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 713- 222-8477 (TIPS).