A grieving mother slammed a Texas grand jury after it declined to charge the man who accidentally shot and killed her daughter as he was attempting to target a robber.
Gwen Alvarez spoke to the press after jurors in Harris County chose not to charge Tony Earls, 41, for the 15 February killing of nine-year-old Arlene Alvarez.
“It was proven [that the suspect] never jumped into our vehicle, so I don’t understand [Mr Earls’s] innocence. He gets to see the light my daughter doesn’t, my daughter is still dug down underground”, Ms Alvarez said on Tuesday.
“He knew what he was doing, and he knew he was going to kill intentionally whoever was in that vehicle”, she added.
Mr Earls was robbed at gunpoint just after using an ATM. The suspect was running away when Mr Earls exited his vehicle and began firing, hitting a pickup truck that he believed the robber had entered.
But inside the vehicle was the Alvarez family, and Arlene was struck by a bullet to the head. She was taken to hospital and died about a month and a half afterwards.
Mr Earls was able to avoid murder and manslaughter charges because he had just been robbed at the time of the shooting. Jurors agreed with the defence’s argument that Mr Earls had the right to defend himself and his property.
“I lived that moment and I go back to that day every night,” Ms Alvarez told the press.
“Maybe Earls wasn’t accountable for his actions, but he knows with what intentions he shot at our vehicle because self-defence is not more than nine shots”, she added.
Arlene’s father said earlier this year that she was wearing headphones at the time and was unable to hear him tell her to “get down”.
“She was the only one who didn’t get down. She didn’t hear me,” he said.
Mr Earls called the police to report the robbery and told authorities that he was unaware that he had hit the truck.
He was charged with aggravated assault, a charge which was dropped on Tuesday and that cannot be put forward again, according to Kim Ogg, the Harris County District Attorney.
“The grand jury, a random group of ordinary people in Harris County who answered their jury summons, heard the evidence in this case as presented by our prosecutors, heard all of the possible charges - from murder to manslaughter to aggravated assault to criminally-negligent homicide”, Ms Ogg said, according to ABC13. “That grand jury also heard possible defences.”
She added that the use of deadly force can be forgiven in cases of protecting property.
The Alvarez family is now focusing on the robber that set the events into motion. A reward of $30,000 has been offered for their arrest.
Arlene’s aunt April Aguirre said: “To say that we’re disappointed wouldn’t be enough.”
“We feel defeated because they so quickly came to a decision that we don’t agree with”, she added.
“Arlene was murdered, and we will never get her back”, Ms Aguirre said. “Arlene will forever be frozen in time as a fourth grader. She will forever be nine.”
In a statement, Mr Earl’s defence lawyers Brennen Dunn and Myrecia Donaldson said that “we would first like to extend our condolences to the Alvarez family once more. There is no greater loss than that of a loved one, and we continue to grieve for the loss of such a beautiful soul”.
“While that life weighs heavy on us, we are happy with the grand jury’s finding in this case. Their decision reflects our position since the onset of this case. The worlds of two different families were clashing at once, from different perspectives. Mr Earls did what we believe anyone in that situation would have done”, they added.
“We stand in support of the Alvarez family as justice continues to be sought for Arlene Alvarez. Mr Earls is prepared to assist authorities however he can, to bring the person responsible to justice. We also hope that the DA’s office will not be so hasty in the future to charge the best available person, but rather, the most appropriate one”, they said.
