Houston Police Make An Arrest In Murder Of 8-Year Old Girl

HOUSTON, TX -- Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced that an arrest in the shooting death of 8-year old De’Maree Adkins.

“HPD investigators have worked tireless to identify the suspect responsible for such a heartless crime, and through the help of the community a suspect has been identified,” Turner said.

(For news updates on this story and other Houston news, just click here to get Patch's daily newsletter and free, real-time news alerts).

In the early morning hours of Feb. 25, Latoyia Thomas was driving home with her daughter, De’Maree Adkins, who was asleep in the backseat.

She was driving through the intersection of West Fuqua and Beltway 8, when she collided with a white Pontiac Grand Prix.

The driver of the Grand Prix, reportedly got out of the car, and fired several shots at Thomas’ car before getting into a dark colored car and fleeing the area.

Initially, Thomas said the shooter was a woman, but Acevedo announced that the person arrested was a 19-year old man.

Acevedo initially indicated the shooting could be gang-related, but has since said he doesn’t believe that is the case now,and called Adkins, “an innocent victim.”

See Also: 8-Year Old Girl Is Shot And Killed After Traffic Accident.

Acevedo declined to release the name of the murder suspect until possibly the end of this week.

“We want to make sure we don’t jeopardize the investigation,” he said. “We know there are still witnesses that have seen something, heard something or know something...Just because there is an arrest, we want them to understand that they still have a moral obligation to come forward.”

Although the Houston Police has worked on this case, the crime itself happened in neighboring Fort Bend County, meaning the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office will be filing the charges.

Those charges are expected to be released Thursday morning.

“The community needs to be commended, because members of this community came together and spoke up to police, so the suspect responsible for this crime could be identified and arrested,” Turner added.

Image: Courtesy photo
Don’t forget to like the Houston Patch Facebook Page