Update: Judge Grants $1M Bond for Man Charged in Southwest Houston Family Murder
A Houston couple and their 6-year-old daughter were shot dead ‘execution style’ at their Texas apartment on Wednesday night. A fourth family member, a 10-year-old girl managed to survive after playing dead along with her baby brother she held.
Identified as the deceased were, Dontrell Carhee and his 29-year-old pregnant wife, Donyavia Lagway and the couple’s 6-year-old daughter, Harmony. The couple’s ten year old daughter, Lyric, who incurred a gunshot wound to the arm, survived the shooting after playing dead.
Houston police responded to a shooting in the 12100 block of Fondren near West Airport just after 10:30 p.m. Wednesday after the 10 year old daughter called her grandmother who then called police.
Also surviving the shooting was a 1-year-old baby boy who was uninjured while a fourth child, the couple’s 8-year-old son was away from the apartment with his uncle during the carnage, reports said.
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The 10-year-old reportedly played dead after she was shot. The girl’s told family the shooter, who she described as a man wearing a mask, lined up her family members on the couch and shot them each in the head.
At the time of the shooting, the 10-year-old girl’s mother was said to have told the intruder that he had the wrong apartment, but he went inside, threw the 1-year-old boy by the hair, then lined up the family members on the couch and shot each of them in the head.
Lyric who had been shot in the arm, held her baby brother and played dead.
After the gunman left, the girl called her grandmother and showed her the horrifying scene inside the apartment on FaceTime. The grandmother then summoned the police.
“She said, ‘Granny, someone came in and shot me, my mom, my dad, and my sister, and they dead,” relative, Angela Ervin said. “She was in the house for about 15 minutes with the bodies until we got here.”
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“This is a very, very tragic scene. We’re sending out prayers to the family,” Assistant Chief Patricia Cantu said. “This was a very difficult scene not only for us, the officers, but the family as well. So we’re sending out prayers and hopes that anybody has any information.”
The 10-year-old girl was said to have spent about 15 minutes with her parents and sister’s bodies until help arrived. Following the shooting, the bleeding child was taken to hospital for treatment for a gunshot wound to the arm.
Crime Stoppers Houston is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who might have information that can help police catch the suspect who killed the family.
Detectives canvassed the apartment complex and recovered surveillance video in their search for the person who shot the family. Police say the suspect is in his 20s, though they have not released a motive.
Crime Stoppers is scheduled to appear at a press conference Friday morning with Mayor Sylvester Turner and Houston Police Chief Troy Finner about the recent shootings across the city.
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The mayor’s office says they’ll provide updates on the investigations, what’s happening, where they stand and any suspect information.
The press conference is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. CST ABC13 Houston will stream it live on their Facebook page.
Investigators believe the shooter did not break in and possibly knew the victims who police declined to publicly identify.
“This was probably not a home invasion… there was no damage. There was possibly a known disturbance of some sort,” Cantu said. “But right now, we don’t have all the details, and right now, we’re just looking for a suspect to see what happened.”
Homicide investigators are working to review surveillance video in the area.
Family at the scene said they have no idea who could have done this. They said the couple just moved to the apartment from Spring to Houston a couple months ago.
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