Crime

Suspect Arrested, Charged in Jazmine Barnes’ Killing

WASHINGTON INFORMER — The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement early Sunday that homicide investigators have filed a capital murder charge against Eric Black Jr.

Published

6 years ago

January 9, 2019

Sheryl Estrada Special to The Informer via DiversityInc

By Sheryl Estrada

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement early Sunday that homicide investigators have filed a capital murder charge against Eric Black Jr., 20, for the shooting death of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes in Texas.

“Investigators identified Black as a suspect based on a tip,” states the sheriff’s office. “Subsequent investigation revealed evidence that corroborated the tip, and Black was taken into custody in East Harris County without incident. Black then admitted to taking part in the shooting.”

A second man, Larry Woodruffe, 24, has also been taken into custody, Lee Merritt, the Barnes family’s lawyer, said. According to Merritt, Woodruffe is “believed to be the shooter.”

The shooting occurred when Jazmine’s mother was driving Jazmine and her three sisters southbound on the East Sam Houston Parkway feeder road near Wallisville Road on Dec. 30. The shooter opened fire into their car.

“At this time, investigators do not believe Jazmine’s family was the intended target of the shooting, and that they were possibly shot as a result of mistaken identity,” the sheriff’s office said.

Both suspects in custody are Black, but on Thursday, police released a sketch of the suspected shooter who was believed to be a white man in his 30s or 40s.

Merritt addressed the shooter’s description in an Instagram post on Sunday:

“Larry Woodruffe doesn’t fit the description offered by the 4 different witness statements or composite sketch. Accordingly, this tip was difficult to believe.

“Assuming the confession elicited is reliable — it is possible the previously identified suspect seen fleeing by several independent witnesses was a bystander attempting to escape the shooting.

“To observers, however, he appeared to be the shooter himself. More information will have to be drawn out before there is a conviction.”

Activist Shaun King, who offered a reward for the arrest of the perpetrator, said, on Twitter, that he provided the sheriff’s office a tip leading to the men involved.

This article originally appeared in the Washington Informer.

Sheryl Estrada Special to The Informer via DiversityInc

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Activism

Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

4 hours ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.